Quarantine
by MizzyPlatinum
Summary: *COMPLETED* Natsu and Lucy end up in Saturday detention along with their other friends, and are forced to clean up a research lab. Through an accidental fight, a tank that contains a deadly bacteria breaks open, causing the school to be on lock down. NaLu. AU. *COMPLETED*
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or anything else mentioned, except for the plot.**_

 ****I will be changing my username to my tumblr URL: MissyPlatina****

 **Hi, everyone :^)**

 **I decided to put it to a vote on which fic I'll start after** _ **Texting Fire.**_

 **This is the second option, the first one was** _ **The Embers of a Mix Up**_ **.**

 **Please let me know which fic you want me to continue!**

 **Thank you so much!**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

"Detention?" Lucy echoed the words of Aquarius-sensei.

"Detention," She barked back and then an evil grin formed on her lips, "Let's make it Saturday detention. Be at the school at 9 AM sharp. You will be cleaning the research lab, room 304."

"Awww, c'mon," a pink haired boy moaned. A pink haired boy who Lucy currently despised.

"But-but-but," Lucy stammered.

"No _buts_ ," Aquarius-sensei smirked. "Now get out of here before I decide to give you more detention."

They scampered out of her office in fear.

"Well this sucks," Natsu sighed, walking next to Lucy with his hands shoved into his pockets.

Lucy remained quiet.

"Well at least I'm not alone this time…" Natsu exhaled. He gave Lucy a sideways glance. The girl had her head down, her long, blonde hair curtained her face. "Last time I got Saturday detention, I was by myself…Felt like solitary confinement."

Lucy still didn't talk.

"Lucy?"

Nothing.

He poked her side, "Luccyy?"

Lucy's head finally snapped up, her eyes so deadly, Natsu flinched. "This is all your fault!"

Natsu's brows furrowed in, "No it's not!"

Lucy threw her hands up, "How is it _not_ your fault? You're the one who pulled us into a freaken closet!"

"For good reasons!" Natsu grumbled.

"What would those good reasons be exactly?" Lucy seethed through her teeth.

Natsu didn't answer, he only looked away.

Natsu's silence made Lucy angrier so she stormed ahead of him.

 **XOXOX**

"Lucy," Levy said, "is it true you were found in Closet 17B with _Natsu_?"

All the girls stopped talking and looked over at the miserable blonde to hear her response.

Lucy could only nod a _yes_.

Cana burst out laughing, "Seriously? Damn! I never thought that I would see the day when Natsu Dragneel brings a girl into Closet 17B!"

"I'm not too surprised," Mira grinned, "Natsu always seemed to have a soft spot for Lucy."

Lucy's face flushed, "Don't say stuff like that! It's not what you think!"

"Then what is it, Lucy?" Lisanna asked, her face was slightly flushed as well.

"Well—I…" Lucy twiddled her thumbs, unsure of what to say, "I don't know…We didn't do anything! And Natsu wouldn't tell me why he pulled me into the closet with him…"

The girls all screeched with happiness.

"He was totally going to have his way with you," Cana fussed.

"Aww!" Levy cooed, "Lucy almost had her first kiss!"

Cana stood up and walked behind Lucy, wrapping her hands around Lucy's breasts, "Bet he wanted to feel these knockers."

"CANA!" Lucy cried "LET GO!"

"My, my," Mira blushed.

"Cana, maybe you should let go…" Lisanna sweat-dropped.

"But I love Lucy's boobies!" Cana whined, squeezing harder.

"Well I see the girls are pretty frisky today," a deep voice called. Everyone's head snapped over to see an uncomfortable-looking Gray and a tense Natsu. Lucy and Natsu made eye contact and Lucy shot him a glare before snapping her head away.

Cana finally let go and plopped down on the bench next to Levy.

Natsu begrudgingly took his usual seat, right between Lisanna and Lucy and Gray sat across from them, next to Mira.

"Hey-ey, Lucy," Natsu stiffly smiled.

Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and turned her body to face the other direction.

"Ouch," Cana smirked. "So, Natsu, rumor has it you whisked Lucy off into the closet of _loovveee_."

Gray laughed, "Oh right! What was that about? Everyone's talking about it."

"Yeah," Levy agreed, "I even heard Gildarts-sensei mention it!"

"What?" Lucy was horrified. How did everyone know about this already? It only happened about an hour ago…

"That's my dad for ya," Cana smirked.

Gray inquired, "So what exactly did you two _do_ in the closet?"

"NOTHING!" Lucy sobbed.

"What she said," Natsu grunted.

"But people were saying they heard moaning…very umm… _sensual_ female moaning," Levy informed them with a blush on her cheeks.

"What?" Everyone gasped and turned their stares over to Natsu and Lucy.

Lucy sputtered, "That's because Natsu thought it would be a great idea to smack his hand over my mouth and gag me!"

"For good reasons," Natsu carelessly shrugged.

"I heard that Natsu let out a lustful groan," Erza now joined the table.

Everybody gasped even louder.

"IT WAS A GROAN OF DISGUST!" Natsu roared. He finally seemed bothered by all the gossip. "SHE LICKED MY FRICKEN HAND!" he waved the assaulted appendage for emphasis.

"Well that's a little bit kinky," Cana murmured.

Natsu and Lucy both blanched.

"Well if you two weren't doing anything," Gray said, "then why the hell were you in Closet 17B?"

"Ask Natsu," Lucy growled.

All eyes were on the spikey-haired boy, but Natsu kept his mouth shut.

"I remember my first time in Closet 17B," Cana mused. "It was the first time I ever—ffff," hands were slapped over her mouth.

"We don't need to know anything, Cana," Lisanna said frantically.

"We don't _want_ to know anything either," Levy added.

"I'm kind of curious," Gray and Mira murmured.

Erza was madly blushing, "Fir-first ti-time?"

Lucy, however, wasn't amused. She gathered up her belongings and got up.

"Lucy," Natsu called out to her.

"Don't talk to me, Natsu," she snapped before leaving.

Natsu quickly grabbed his book bag and chased after the seething blonde.

"I almost feel bad for the bastard," Gray mused.

 **XOXOX**

A hand grabbed Lucy's shoulder, halting her from walking any further.

"Didn't you get my not-so-subtle hint that I don't want to talk to you, Natsu?" Lucy glowered, smacking his hand off her.

"Lucy," he sounded frustrated, "you're makin' too big of a deal about detention."

She whirled around, throwing her hands up, "And you're making too light of a deal about detention!"

Natsu cheekily grinned, "Well it is only detention, not a death sentence, ya know."

"It might as well be," Lucy turned away from him, crossing her arms. "After my father gets through with me…"

"Huh?" Natsu furrowed. "What do you me—?"

"Nothing," Lucy interrupted him. She went to walk away again, but Natsu grabbed her arm and Lucy tried to ignore how nice and warm it felt…

"Lucy," his face turned suddenly serious, "your father doesn't…hit you or anything, right?"

Lucy's face paled, "Of course not! He would never lay a hand on me! What kind of accusation is that?" Again, she smacked his hand off of her.

Natsu's face dusted pink as he threw his arms up in the air, "It sounded like you were hinting towards it!"

"I wasn't!" Lucy blushed back. "He's just going to chew my ear off with lectures is what I meant, stupid!"

"Sorry!" Natsu put his palms towards her as a sign of a truce, but then his face twisted up with anger and confusion, "If that's all he's gonna do to you…then why the hell are you so pissed off at me?"

"I…" Lucy looked away, her face flaming.

"Lucy?" His voice was so soft and gentle…her heart began to race.

"Because…you're just a jerk!" And with that said, she stomped away.

"What a weirdo," Natsu sighed to himself as he watched the blonde stalk off.

 **XOXOX**

Saturday detention had finally arrived.

She walked into the lab room just as Aquarius Sensei had commanded.

She was the first one there.

Lucy desperately wanted to get it over with it.

The sooner detention was done, the sooner she could continue to ignore Natsu.

She knew she was hurting him, but on technicality, he _had_ hurt _her_. Who drags their best friend into Closet 17B? Lucy still couldn't stop blushing from the memory.

It was a rather small closet and they were pressed together, not due to the lack of room, but because Natsu had clutched her to his chest…

"Lucy?" A small, feminine voice interrupted her reverie.

Lucy turned around and gasped, "Levy? What are you doing here?"

"Detention," Levy sheepishly smiled.

Lucy's eyes bugged, "YOU GOT DETENTION?"

"Ahh," Levy clamped her hand over Lucy's mouth. "Not so loud, Lucy!"

"Sorry!" Lucy apologized after Levy removed her hand. "What happened?"

"I'd rather not say," Lucy rubbed her head and looked away.

Lucy was about to press more on the topic, but another voice interrupted.

"Hey, Lucy, Levy."

"Gray?" Levy gasped.

"Gray?" Lucy blinked.

"That would be me," Gray grinned. "Looks like you won't have to be alone with that Assflame for detention, Lucy."

"Actually I have detention too," Levy said.

Gray ogled in disbelief, "YOU HAVE DETENTION?"

"Not so loud!" Levy flushed.

"What did you do?" Gray asked.

"I don't want to say," Levy hid her face in her hands.

"Alright," Gray decided not to push.

"So what did you do, Gray?" Lucy asked. "Did that stupid jerk pull you into Closet 17B as well?"

"Ugh, no!" Gray shuddered. "I got into a stupid fight with Lyon—"

"Was it over Juvia again?" Levy inquired.

"Maybe," Gray blushed.

"Lyon got detention also?" Lucy questioned.

"Nah," Gray sighed. "That bastard got away scot free."

"Who got away with what?" A new voice joined the party.

"ERZA?!" All three gaped.

She smiled with slight bitterness.

"How the hell did you get detention?" Gray incredulously asked.

"Apparently it's unacceptable to verbally scold students," Erza shrugged.

Every one sweat-dropped.

"Scold?" A gruff voice joined in. "That was more like a death threat…"

"Gajeel!" Levy's face light up, but then it turned a bright shade of red as she bashfully looked away.

"What are you in for?" Lucy asked.

"None of your business, Bunny Girl!" Gajeel barked.

Lucy scowled at him.

"Be nice, Gajeel," Levy chided.

Gajeel shot her a glare and turned away.

"Wow," a new voice entered the room. "Looks like a party in here."

"Great," Gray rolled his eyes, "the flaming idiot has arrived."

"Oi, shut it, Ice Dick!" Natsu snarled and then his eyes met Lucy's, who, in return, quickly averted hers.

"Yo-o, Lucy" Natsu tried to sound causal, but completely failed.

She ignored him, "So it says here," she picked up a note left on the table, "we need to clean this room until it is spotless and then we may go."

"Alright," Gray sighed.

And then Erza stood up on the table. "Lucy, you get that corner over there, Levy, you go help her. Gray, you and Natsu take that side, and Gajeel and I will fix up over here!"

Everyone broke into their groups and began their cleaning.

There was a strange tank over on Lucy's end. She stared into it, but it looked empty.

Though what was really peculiar was that there was a light lit inside it, as though to keep it warm or something…

Lucy taped on the glass, waiting for something to pop out.

"Lucy!"

"KYA!" She jumped and turned around, "Levy, you scared me."

"Sorry," Levy smiled softly. "I just wanted to tell you not to touch the tank. There's a lot of warning signs around it, see?"

Lucy looked at the wall behind the tank and sure enough there were signs saying, _Do not touch,_ or _Do not open_ , and also _If opened, please call this number immediately and say CODE GREEN_.

"Oops," Lucy blushed, rubbing her head. "My bad."

And then she went back to work.

 **XOXOX**

"WHY DON'T YOU SHOVE IT UP YOUR—" Natsu was in the midst of saying before Gray struck him in the jaw.

"THAT WAS A CHEAP SHOT!" Natsu yelled, rubbing his sore jaw.

"Was not," Gray smirked.

"Was too!" Natsu argued.

"Was not—" Gray was punched to the floor.

"I can't stand you two arguing!" Erza growled. "It is very annoying!"

"Natsu started it!" Gray stated as he stood up.

"No I didn't!" Natsu glowered at him.

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

They were butting heads now.

Lucy was getting nervous, they were creeping closer to her for some reason.

"SHUT UP!" Erza hit both boys with such a force, that they knocked right into Lucy.

"KYAAA," Lucy arms flailed up in the air as she tried to find something to latch on to, but there was nothing but empty space around her.

The boys and Erza had gone back to arguing and Levy was still cleaning, paying no attention to anything and Gajeel watched them with dull amusement.

As Lucy fell backwards, she bumped into the tank, before colliding with the floor. "Oww…" She moaned.

She heard creaking above her. She looked up and with aa horrified expression, she watched the tank wobble back and forth. _Please don't fall!_ She begged.

But it did.

Lucy crawled back as fast as she could just as it crashed to the floor, just narrowly missing Lucy.

"AHHH," Lucy covered her face with her arms as glass and whatever strange stuff was in that tank showered all over her.

Less than a second later, a burning sensation surged into her eyes. "My eyes!" She frantically rubbed them.

Everyone else in the room started coughing.

"Lucy! Don't *cough* do that!" Levy ran over to the blonde to help her up, "Gajeel, help me!"

Lucy let out wails of pain.

Gajeel didn't hesitate as he grasped the blonde's arm. "C'mon, Bunny Girl, you'll be alright."

"Let's get her to the sink! There's an eyewash faucet there." Levy commanded.

Natsu, Gray, and Erza watched with shocked expressions, each one feeling equally guilty.

"Call for help," Levy commanded to the trio as she gently tilted Lucy's head down to flush out her eyes. "There's a phone number taped to the wall!"

"Ri-right" Erza stuttered as she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number on the call. "WE HAVE A CODE GREEN!"

And then she hung up, "Help is on the way."

"C'mon, Lucy," Levy cooed. "It's alright." She brushed the glass off of Lucy as Lucy continued to flush out her eyes.

The burning sensation dulled slightly as Lucy pulled her face away from the sink.

"You three!" Lucy, with teary eyes, glared at Natsu, Gray, and Erza, "Are total idiots!"

"Sorry, Lucy," they apologized.

"Whatever," she crossed her arms and looked away.

"Lucy," Natsu walked over to her and gently pried one of her arms away from her chest. Lucy gave in to Natsu's light touch.

His hand delicately glided down her forearm to her hand and entwined their fingers.

Lucy's heart stuttered.

" _Lucy_ ," he said again, but this time, his voice was breathy. He looked deeply into her eyes. Lucy wanted to look away, but she couldn't. "I'm—"

"ATTENTION!" A loud voice from outside the school called. "THIS IS A STAGE 4 QUARANTINE!"

"What?" Lucy gasped as she and Natsu shared a horrified look before dashing over to the window. The others followed after.

There were a bunch of people wearing strange-looking, full body suits.

"I REPEAT," a guy holding a megaphone out of the bunch shouted. "THIS IS A _STAGE 4 QUARANTINE_!"

Everyone shared a look of pure panic.

"THE SCHOOL IS ON LOCK DOWN UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!"

 _This can't be happening…_

Lucy felt light-headed.

The only thing keeping her from fainting was Natsu's thumb rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand.

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **I'm leaning more towards this fic.**

 **What do you think?!**

 **Do you all want me to continue this one instead?!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is the story that the majority had chosen!**

 **I hope you will all like it!**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

"So we are locked in?" Gray was the first to speak.

Lucy couldn't answer him.

She was too distracted by the strange-looking people who were taping off the school and also Natsu was still absentmindedly stroking the back of her hand…

"I'm gettin' the hell outta here," Gajeel gruffly said. "C'mon, Shrimp!" He grabbed Levy by the wrist and yanked her towards the door.

"There's no way we getting out!" Levy's cries rang from the hallway.

"WAIT FOR US!" Natsu raced after them, dragging Lucy along with him.

"Whoaa, Natsu!" she cried. "Slow down!" Natsu had no intensions of slowing day as he pushed open the stairwell.

"I'm going to die," she muttered as she took the stairs two at a time, hoping not to trip.

She could faintly hear Erza and Gray's footsteps running down the stairs after them.

They made it to the first floor, where Natsu banged open the bottom stairwell doors.

Her legs burned from running, her breathing was terrible…she felt like she was going to pass out as black dots blurred her vision.

And then they came to a rough halt, causing Lucy to bump right into Natsu.

She felt so weak…she had no choice but to rest her head against his shoulder, taking comfort in his fiery scent.

"DAMN IT!" Lucy heard Gajeel shout. "THEY BOLTED IT SHUT!" She heard a loud bang.

"Don't kick the door!" Levy wailed. "You'll hurt yourself!"

"Damnnn," Gray moaned. "What kind of school is this?"

Lucy peered over Natsu's shoulder to see that all the doors had been sealed shut with some kind of heavy metal.

"Let's try a window!" Erza suggested.

They dashed into the cafeteria and to no one's surprise, all the windows were bolted shut.

"We really are locked in…" Lucy murmured with pure panic etched in on her face.

"Lucy," Natsu turned to look at her, grabbing her free hand so that he was holding both hands, "I—"

With a savage yank, Lucy pulled her hands out of Natsu's and crossed her arms over her chest as she turned away from him, "I don't want to hear it."

 **XOXOX**

"I can't believe this," Gray exhaled, sitting down at a random table in the cafeteria.

Levy moaned into her palms. "Me either…How could they bolt all the windows and doors so quickly…" She was sitting at different table that was next to Gray's with Gajeel leaning against it.

"They were really prepared for something like this," Erza stood with her finger taping her chin. "I mean what an extreme security system…"

"I wonder if they are going to tell us anything," Lucy mused. "How could they tell us the schools under lock down without any information?"

"School fucking sucks," Gajeel sighed.

"AHHH!" Natsu roared with hands on top of his head as he ran around the lunch room, "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?! WE ARE GOING TO STARVE TO DEATH! AND WE'LL PROBABLY HAVE TO RESORT TO CANNIBALISM!"

Gray's face twisted with bewilderment, "The hell is he goin' on about?"

"SHOT NOT EATING LUCY!" Natsu continued.

"Hey!" Lucy stepped in front of Natsu, putting an end to his frantic running. She placed her curled fists on her hips and asked, "What's wrong with eating me?"

"You're the fattest," he deadpanned.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Before she knew it, her hand struck him right on the cheek, "YOU JERK!"

"Nice going, Ass Flame," Gray laughed. "She already hated you to begin with…"

"Oi!" Natsu shot him a glare while rubbing his sore cheek. "Shut it!"

"Don't you two even think about fighting," Erza snapped.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Gray quickly said with a fake-cheery voice.

"What-What he said," Natsu stuttered.

"I shot Erza," Gajeel said.

"Huh?" everyone looked over at him.

"You shot Erza for what?" Levy asked with her head tilted to look up at him.

"To eat," he simply answered.

The scarlet haired girl nodded her head with approval, "I would pick you too, Gajeel, and also Gray…"

"OI! I WANT ERZA!" Natsu seethed with his fist in front of Gajeel's face. "AND WAIT A SECOND!" the flaming boy faced Erza, "WHY WOULDN'T YOU EAT ME?!"

"Same reason you wouldn't eat Lucy," she shrugged.

"That's hurtful!" Lucy grumbled, taking a seat next to Gray.

"I'M NOT FAT!" Natsu roared, standing up on Levy's table. He pulled his shirt up and waved his free hand over his stomach, "THIS IS PURE MUSCLE!" His fiery gaze landed on Lucy's blushing face, she quickly looked away.

"Why doesn't anyone want to eat me?" Levy asked.

"Too scrawny," Natsu, Erza, and Gajeel answered.

"This conversation is weird as fuck," Gray shook his head.

"I agree," Lucy shivered, sitting down at his table.

"Well no one's eating anyone just yet," Erza stated. "That's only a last case scenario."

Gray sputtered, "She's actually serious?!"

"Gahh!" Lucy squeaked, hugging her arms to her chest, "We are trapped in here with monsters!"

"What are you so worried about, Lucy?" Natsu plopped down next to her, his thigh touching hers. "No one wants to eat you."

"No one wants to eat you either," she fumed, scooting closer to Gray.

The action didn't go unnoticed by the pink haired boy, but he chose to ignore it.

"Can we stop talking about this?" Levy pleaded. "It's creeping me out."

"I'll say," Gray agreed and then he stood up, "Let's go check out the kitchen."

Everyone went to follow after him, except for Lucy.

She was too tired to move and her eyes still really hurt after getting sprayed with whatever that weird stuff was…

"You coming, Lucy?" Natsu called out to her.

"Nope," she rested her head onto the table.

Natsu hesitated, wondering whether he should go over to her or follow the others…

But for some reason, he felt like she would murder him if he stayed considering how angry she was at him… so he ran over to the others.

 **XOXOX**

"So we definitely have enough food," Erza said to Lucy when they came back. "Probably last us over three months…"

"Great," Lucy sulked. "So you think we are going be trapped in here for that long?"

Everyone averted their eyes and remained silent. They were unsure of what to say because they, too, were scared.

But their silence only made things worse for Lucy as tears trickled down her cheeks.

A hand placed itself on top of her head and ruffled her hair, "Of course not."

"Natsu?" She gazed up to see Natsu through her blurry vision.

He shot her a happy, eye-squinting grin that revealed his abnormally sharp canines.

Her heartrate sped up.

"Natsu's right," Erza said softly. "I've been checking my phone for any news reports and there's nothing."

"And also they haven't cancelled school or anything," Gray added as he sat down next to Lucy and gently patted her back.

Levy's apprehensive expression morphed into a hopeful, jovial one, "Really?! So that means they are probably planning to release us before Monday!"

"Yosh!" Natsu cheered, pumping his fist into the air.

Lucy giggled at him.

"See?" he beamed at her. "Nothin' to worry about!"

"Right!" she beamed back, momentarily forgetting that she was angry at him.

But she couldn't forget the situation…

"GAHH!" she rubbed at her eyes.

"Lucy!" Natsu sat down on the other side of her. "What's wrong?"

"My eyes!" she cried.

"We should flush them out again," Levy said. "C'mon, let's get her to the Nurse's Office."

"Right," Natsu wrapped his arms around Lucy's waist—except—Lucy squirmed away.

"My legs are perfectly capable of walking for themselves," she snapped as she stood up.

"Ughhh," Natsu groaned, rubbing his head. "You're back to bein' mad at me?"

"I never stopped," she huffed, still rubbing her eyes.

Levy gently took Lucy's hand to lead her to the Nurse's Office, "You guys can wait here."

"But—" Natsu protested, but Erza shook her head at him.

 **XOXOX**

"You okay, Lucy?" Levy asked after she poured eye drops into Lucy's eyes.

"Ye-Yeah," Lucy's voice quivered as she blinked the drops in.

Levy scrutinized Lucy's eyes and her lips drew a thin line, "Still really bloodshot…but I think you'll be okay."

"Thanks, Levy," Lucy beamed.

"Soo when do you think you'll forgive Natsu?" the tiny girl asked on their walk back to the lunch room.

"Never," she scowled.

"Never?" Levy raised a thin, blue brow. "That seems awfully harsh."

"Really?" Lucy mused. "Doesn't seem harsh enough to me…"

Levy sputtered, but chose to remain silent.

Whatever was going on between those two…it was best to stay out of it.

 **XOXOX**

"Feeling better, Lucy?" Erza asked as Lucy and Levy arrived back to the cafeteria.

"Much better," the blonde beamed.

"Hmm," Natsu stood up from where he was sitting. He walked over to Lucy and leaned his head in really close—so close she could feel his hot breath fanning her face. His eyes carefully inspected her face.

Lucy squirmed in place, trying her best not to move away.

"Your eyes are really bloodshot…" he breathed, tickling her face with his warm scent.

Her breath hitched, "I know."

The way he was gazing at her…Lucy's stomach fluttered and her heart pounded against her chest.

"Looks like the happy couple is back together," Gajeel smirked.

"No way," Lucy moved backwards as her face flushed. "Don't call us a couple!" she chided Gajeel and then she turned back to Natsu, "And you, don't stand so close to me."

Gray laughed at Natsu's annoyed expression.

"Shut it, Icy Ass," Natsu scoffed.

"So while you two were at the Nurse's Office," Erza said, "We decided that we are going to look around the science room to find out any information."

"Alright," Lucy shrugged.

 **XOXOX**

The classroom looked eerily still.

The glass from the tank was scattered all over, adding more to the mess…

"Wonder what Aquarius-sensei would say about this," Lucy tried to joke.

"She would probably kill us," Natsu was the only one who replied.

"Everyone," Erza commanded, "look for any paper that might explain was this is—was," she gestured to the broken tank.

Lucy wandered around the area.

She could make out a piece of paper in the rubble of glass.

She cautiously picked it up trying not to get hurt, but a piece of glass managed to slice her finger, "Crap!" she moaned, sucking on her bleeding finger.

"What's wrong?!" Natsu was next to her within seconds.

"Nothing," she lied, hiding her injured finger behind her back. "I found this," she held up the paper with her non-injured hand.

"What does it say?" Levy inquired.

"It says, _This grant has been awarded to Wendy Marvel for her extensive research on the bacteria known as Faerietailious_. That's all it says."

"Wendy Marvel?" Natsu tasted the name on his tongue. "The name sounds familiar."

"She's an underclassmen," Erza informed everyone.

"So why the hell is an underclassmen working with such a dangerous bacteria?" Gray questioned.

"No idea," Erza frowned.

"Well at least we know what that stuff was," Levy said. "Now we can look it up and everything."

"You're right. We should split up," Erza said. "Two people should stay here and keep looking for clues, Another two should go look up information on _Faerietailious_ and the last group should go look up Wendy's personal records."

"Gajeel and I will do the research!" Levy hastily answered. "C'mon, Gajeel!" She grabbed his hand and they dashed out of the room.

"Well that was odd," Lucy's voice held a hint of humor.

"Yeah," Gray agreed. "Levy and Gajeel sure have been acting awfully close..."

She gasped, "You don't think they are dating—?"

"Okay, focus," Erza snapped. "Lucy, you and Nat—"

Lucy cut her off and said, "I want to go with Gray."

Natsu let out a stunned choking noise.

Erza blinked, "Really?"

"Well nothing personal, Erza," Lucy blushed, tucking a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear, "It's just that if I picked you, that would mean Natsu and Gray would be alone together and we all know how that goes…"

"Oi!" the boys protested.

"And I don't want to be alone with Natsu," Lucy shot him a glare.

Natsu glowered and muttered back, "I didn't wanna go with you anyways."

"Fair enough," Erza said. "Gray, you go with Lucy to look up Wendy's records and Natsu and I will stay here. We all have our phones I presume…So call if you find anything."

"Alright," Gray nodded. "C'mon, Lucy."

He led the way.

She could feel Natsu's blazing gaze burning holes into the back of her head and without helping it, she peeked over her shoulder to see if he actually was staring.

But he wasn't.

He was searching around the room with a bored expression on his face.

 _Guess I'm just paranoid_ …

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Did you all like this chapter?!**

 **AHH I hope I didn't ruin this fic :0**

 **I get so nervous with new stories...**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

"So how long do you plan on staying mad at that flaming idiot?" Gray asked on their journey to the Main Office.

Lucy tensed up, but tried to play it off as indifference, "For now…indefinitely."

He shot her a sideways glance, "All because he dragged you into Closet 17B?"

She remained silent, keeping her gaze focused on the yellow granite floor.

"I doubt he would have done anything to you in there if you guys hadn't been caught," Gray continued. "I mean this is _Natsu_ we are talking about."

"I know," she ran her hand through her long, blonde hair.

" _Unless_ ," he smirked, "you _wanted_ him to do something."

Her eyes grew frantic and met his amused, blue ones. Her cheeks blazed up, "Of course not!"

He raised a skeptical brow, "Surree, Lucy."

"It's true!" she threw her hands up out of desperation for him to believe her.

"Well I should know better than to get involved with you and Natsu's relationship—"

"We don't have a relationship," she interrupted.

But Gray continued as though he didn't hear, "—but I think you should cut him some slack."

"Why should I?" she asked as they walked down the stairs to get back to the main floor of the school. "This is all his fault."

Gray froze in place at the bottom of the stairwell.

She curiously looked over at him, wondering why he stopped.

He was bewildered, "Are you serious right now?"

"Well yeah…" she scowled. "If it weren't for him shoving me into that damn closet then I wouldn't have gotten detention and that stupid tank would have never broke…"

His deep blue eyes turned harsh, "If you're gonna be like that then you better share some of the blame with me and Erza because we feel just as guilty."

"Gray," she instantly regretted her words. She hadn't thought about Gray and Erza…She had been too busy looking for any excuse to keep being angry at Natsu. She wished she could retract her words. "I didn't mean it—"

"Look, Lucy," he cut her off. "I get that you are mad at Natsu, but don't blame him for all this… It's not fair to him."

"I know," she exhaled deeply. "But I still blame him—for the detention—not for us getting trapped in here."

"Ahh good enough for me," Gray shrugged.

"Sorry for making you feel bad."

"I'm sorry too," he sighed. "I shouldn't have snapped. Guess the guilt's been eating at me…"

"Well let's not feel guilty!" Lucy beamed. "It's not any of our faults. It's the schools for having something like this here."

"Right," he beamed back.

"Now let's make fun of Natsu in the meantime because he's stupid dumb idiot!" her hands balled up on her sides.

"You know what? It's kind of funny how the tables have turned," Gray mused.

"What do you mean?" Lucy cocked her head to the side.

"Well when you first moved here over the summer," he reminisced, "Natsu really didn't like you."

"Wait, what?!" she exclaimed with utter disbelief.

That was news to her…

"Yeah," Gray chuckled, shoving his hands into his pants pockets of his uniform. "He found you to be so annoying and loud…Not to mention you would always follow him around…"

Well now that she thought about, Natsu used to make snide comments all the time to her…but, at the time, she had thought that was his sense of humor…

"He's the annoying and loud one…And besides, I only followed him around because I didn't know anyone else!" her cheeks flared up with embarrassment.

"Calm down," he chuckled. "It was only for a brief period and it was a good thing you kept bothering him because somehow you managed to break through to him. I mean we were all friends with him before you, but none of us were _close_ to him." He paused to think. "Maybe it was because you never teased him about those pyro rumors…"

She bit her lip and looked around the bleak hallway, hoping to find something that could change the subject.

And she did.

Pointing to a door that read _Main Offic_ e. "Looks like we're here."

 **XOXOX**

Natsu searched around the rubble of the broken tank, unsure of what he was supposed to be looking for. He would occasionally glance over at his red haired companion and copy her actions, such as browsing through papers on a shelf, but still, he was pretty lost and not to mention _distracted_ as well.

His thoughts kept wandering back to Lucy.

He couldn't fathom why she was so angry with him.

All because he dragged her into the closet?

There has to be more to that, right?

He sighed, rubbing his temples.

His stomach felt all knotty and his heart felt like something was clenching it, but the feeling was minor compared to how it intense it gets when he's in the same room as the blonde…

Why did he have to drag her into that dumb closet?

Oh right because—

"You should apologize to Lucy soon," Erza said, breaking his thoughts up.

"Eh?" he whirled around to see Erza staring at him.

"Everything feels out of balance with you two fighting like this…" she stated. "So you apologize so that everything can go back to normal."

"What am I apologizing for?!"

"You dragged her into Closet 17B," she pointed out.

"So what?" Natsu threw his arms up. "It's not like I did anything!"

"Maybe that's the problem," Erza shot him a wink before resuming her search.

"EHH?" his jaw smacked the floor.

Erza didn't say anything after that…

She wasn't implying that Lucy wanted him to…?

 _No way,_ he shook his head.

 **XOXOX**

The Main Office, which was normally buzzing with noise, was spookily quiet.

It felt strange, yet thrilling to go behind the front desk to get to the back room where all the personal files are kept.

"It's locked," Gray groaned as he tried tugging open the door to the room labeled, _Staff Only_.

"Maybe there's a key around?" Lucy suggested. She looked through all the desk drawers, but each one was cluttered with various junk.

"Find anything?"

"No," she pouted, but her eyes glanced at the fire extinguisher that was under one of the desks. "But I have an idea..."

"Man, this is so illegal," Gray grinned as he bashed the fire extinguisher against the door knob until it cracked open.

"We are gonna have to fix that before they un-quarantine us…" Lucy gulped, thinking about how much trouble they would be in if the school ever found out.

"Nahh," he shrugged, "Let's just blame it on Ass Flame and Metal Ass."

She giggled, "Sounds good to me."

They walked inside and saw rows upon rows of files.

"Whoaa," they awed.

"So uh how do we tackle this exactly?" Gray asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Ummm, it's probably in alphabetical order…So look for her name? Wendy Marvel."

"Alright," Gray said as he and Lucy started at the shelf nearest to them and to their horror, it wasn't in alphabetical order. "…the fuck?" he gaped.

"Guess I'll take one end and you'll take the other?" she sweated.

Gray begrudgingly walked to the other side and together, they began their search.

"Marvel, W," Lucy kept muttering to herself, scanning through dozens of names and then she stopped.

 _N, Dragneel_.

She pulled the file out and curiously flipped it open to random page and read, "Accused of arson —"

"Did you find it?" Gray's voice called to her.

She nearly jumped out of her skin, "N-No." She shoved the file back onto the shelf, hoping it was the exact place she had found it…

"Whose file were you reading?" he inquired as he continued his search.

"Ahh no one important…" she flushed.

They continued their search in silence.

She had to have read over a hundred names already…Her eyes started to burn again and she could her vision blurred.

Her head was starting pound also…

She took a step back from the shelves and lightly touched her head.

 _Maybe I should take a break…_

She ungracefully plopped to the floor, with her knees up, leaning against a shelf.

Her head was resting in her palms.

"I found it!" she could faintly hear Gray running towards her in his excitment. "You okay, Lucy?"

She titled her head upwards to see his concerned expression. "Yeah," she said weakly. "Just a headache…" She pointed at the folder in his hand. "What does it say?"

"Oh right," he opened it up and she watched as his eyes skimmed through it. His hands turned the pages and he said, "Apparently she skipped like two years because she's like a super genius."

"Two years?" Lucy ogled.

"Yeah," he awed. "Also it says that she's like some kind of medical prodigy when it comes to microbiology and pathology."

"Really?"

"And she figured out the cure to that dangerous virus that spread last year, _Sabertoothccus._ "

"No way!" Lucy's jaw fell. "How old is she?"

"Lemme see," he flipped to the front. "She is—shit—she's only 12!"

"WHAT?! SHE'S ONLY 12?!" she wailed. "She has accomplished more in 12 years of her life than I ever will in a lifetime…"

"I feel so insignificant…" Gray shook his head. "Here, tell Erza what I told you while I go read some more," he tossed his already-dialing-phone to Lucy.

She placed it to her ear and waited for it to be answered.

And finally someone answered—but it wasn't Erza.

"Yo, Ice Prick," the voice said. "Find anything out yet?"

Her heart nearly stopped.

No…Gray did this on purpose, didn' She shot him a dirty look, but he was too absorbed in his reading. She pulled the phone away and saw that he really did, in fact, dial Erza.

"Yooo, you there?" Natsu called out.

"Natsu?" her voice came out breathy as she put the phone back to her ear.

"Lu-Lucy?!" his voice went several pitches higher. "WHY ARE YOU USING GRAY'S PHONE?!"

"WHY ARE YOU USING ERZA'S?!" she cried.

"I dunno why!"

"Same here!" She could feel her body temperature spiking.

He fake-coughed, "So errr did you find out somethin' or…?"

"Apparently Wendy is this genius 12-year-old."

"12-YEARS-OLD?!" Natsu awed. "Mannnn why did they give a 12-year-old somethin' that can cause the school to be locked down?"

"Well it says she's amazing at microbiology and pathology so I guess they wanted her to find a cure to whatever it was that we are probably infected with…"

"OWW!" he yelped.

"What's wrong?"

"Sliced myself on some glass," he groaned. "Gahh I'm bleeding!"

"Natsu!" she could hear Erza. "You have to be more careful!"

"Sorry!"

Gray took the phone out of Lucy's hand, "We are gonna head back to you guys," and he paused and said, "Okay," then he hung up. "We are gonna meet them in the cafeteria. Ready?"

"Yup." She tried to stand up and that's when she realized how weak she felt.

She could barely get her head to focus.

It was like the room was spinning.

"Here," Gray reached out a hand and Lucy gratefully took it.

"Thanks," she blushed.

"Don't mention it," he smiled.

They walked out into the hallway and Lucy was greeted with a chill. She mentally cursed the school for making the girl uniforms so short… She hugged her arms to her chest.

"Cold?"

She nodded.

"Here," he shrugged off the maroon-red jacket that was a part of his uniform and draped it over her trembling shoulders.

"Thanks, Gray," she smiled, shrugging her arms inside it.

Gray wasn't the warmest bodied person—hell, he has the coldest body out of everyone, but his jacket did the trick in warming her up.

He nodded his head with acknowledgment as they trudged to the lunch room.

 **XOXOX**

"Gray, Lucy," Erza greeted the second they walked in. "Did you bring the folder?"

"Yeah," Gray held it up.

Lucy shyly looked over towards Natsu, who was sitting on top of a table with his legs crisscrossed.

He was studying Lucy with an unreadable expression.

She forced herself to look away.

"Wow," Erza marveled over Wendy's file. "She's an excellent student."

"I know," Gray concurred.

Natsu's brows furrowed, "Why are you wearin' Gray's jacket, Lucy?"

"I was cold," she explained, "so he gave it to me."

"Bet Juvia can't wait hear about that," Natsu mischievously grinned, pulling out his phone to text the said girl.

"Don't you dare!" Gray growled before lunging himself at the pink haired boy.

"Gray, Natsu!" Erza barked. "Don't."

"Sor-Sorry," Gray pulled himself off of Natsu and Natsu stuck his tongue out at him.

Natsu, then, jumped off the table and walked over to Lucy. "You were cold, huh?"

"Yeah," she tried not to pay much attention to him, but he made it kind of hard when he gently placed his hands on her shoulder and turned her to face him.

Her eyes widened as she watched him lean his head downwards.

Her heart was about to stop.

His scent of fire intoxicated her.

He wasn't going to kiss her, was he?

Apparently not, since he stopped moving once their foreheads touched.

One of his hands moved from her shoulder to the back of her head as he pushed it up and down against his forehead. "You feel really warm," his hot breath fanned her face.

She couldn't speak.

Her eyes were held captive by his dark, slanted ones.

And suddenly his eyes grew wide and his mouth opened as if he were about to say something, but someone interrupted.

"Well we couldn't find much," Levy had entered the cafeteria, "but we found—"

"Are they _kissing_?" Gajeel's exclaimed with utter disbelief.

Lucy jerked out of Natsu's grip and cried, "No!"

"Like I would kiss her," Natsu scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Then what were you two doing?" Levy inquired.

"Natsu has a weird way of checking people's temperature," Lucy huffed.

"Oi!" he growled, "It's not weird! It's very effective."

"Well if that's the case…then Natsu," Erza said, "could you check my temperature while you are at it?"

"Errr…" Natsu sweated. "Sure?"

He stiffly shuffled over to Erza.

Gray and Lucy sniggered.

"S'not funny!" Natsu glowered at them as he placed his forehead against Erza's, for what had to be two seconds at most, before he pulled away, "You don't feel feverish."

"Thanks," Erza smiled gratefully.

And Lucy couldn't help but notice how Natsu had been brief and rougher with Erza than he had been with her…

It made her chest swell.

"So what did you two find?" Gray inquired to Levy and Gajeel.

"Oh right!" Levy grinned. "I found this book," she held out a thick black book, "It's called _Zeref's Book of Diseases._ "

"Anything on _Faerie—_ whatever?" Natsu asked, peering cautiously at the book.

"Yeah," Levy nodded. "It tells you about the origin and symptoms and—"

"What about a cure?" Erza interrupted.

Levy's face fell, "Nothing about a cure…"

"Can I see it?" Lucy asked.

"Sure," Levy handed the book over to Lucy.

Lucy took a seat and flipped through to the page of symptoms.

"I tried calling that number we called that got us quarantined," Levy started. "But no one would pick up…"

"Idiots," Gajeel said gruffly. "Find anything on that Wendy girl?"

"She cured that very deadly and supposedly incurable disease _Nirvitis_ ," Erza informed them.

"She also cured _Sabertoothccus_ ," Gray added. "She's only 12."

"Whoaa," Levy gaped. "You are kidding?!"

"Damnn. Let's hope she's close to a cure or somethin' for _FaerieTailious_ ," Gajeel sounded solemn.

"From what we read…" Levy broke off, a frown dawning on her face.

"It can be fatal," Gajeel finished the sentence for her.

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

Lucy slapped a hand to her mouth and let out a muffled cry.

"Well that book looks insanely old," Natsu took a seat next to Lucy. He inched in close to her to look through the book. "400 hundred years ago to be exact. Back when dragons existed."

"Dragons never existed, you dumbass," Gray sneered.

"Yes they did, Ice Prick!" Natsu glowered, about to jump out of his seat to attack Gray, but Lucy grabbed onto his arm to hold him back.

Natsu looked at her with a stunned expression.

She let go of his arm as though it burned her.

And returned her gaze back to the book.

He sat back down.

She gave him a sideways glance and saw a blush painted on his cheeks.

She nervously swallowed as she went back to reading.

"Most common symptom is a rash apparently," Levy informed the group.

Lucy was hardly listening as she skimmed over to the symptom list to read for herself, but something caught her eye.

 _Do not let it enter the bloodstream._

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Omg thank you all so much! You were all so kind!**

 **And to guest Mirai, by** _ **shot**_ **I meant it in terms of** _ **want**_ **.**

 **Ahh hope you all like this chapter as well!**

 **Thank you all for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**WAHH THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!**

 **YOU'RE THE BEST!**

 ***HUGS TIGHTLY***

* * *

 **XOXOX**

"Stupid, Gray. Dragons did exist and they still might…" Natsu grumbled with a blush still on his cheeks thanks to a certain blonde sitting next to him. How could something so infinitesimal make him feel like he was on fire? All Lucy had done was grab his arm to stop him from attacking Gray…but her touch had lingering effects causing him strange heart palpitations and of course his cheeks were now ablaze.

Lucy stiffened beside him.

He peered over at her.

She was still gazing intently at the book.

"Read somethin' bad?" he asked.

"N-No," she stammered, with her eyes still trained on the book. "Well yes—I mean everything's bad so…I don't know what I'm saying…"

Natsu tilted his head to the side and reached a hand out to slide the book in front of him, "Lemme see—"

"NO!" she slapped his hand away.

He scowled at her and shouted to the group, "LUCY'S BEIN' SECRETIVE!"

"Natsu!" she hissed with gritted teeth, finally looking at him.

He cheekily smiled, knowing very well she would probably hate him more after this…

"Lucy," Erza walked over to her. "Now is not the time to be keeping secrets. Did you read something important?"

"It's just that…" she broke off, staring at the red and yellow tiled floor. _Do not let it enter the bloodstream._ Of course Levy probably read that already, but still…She gazed down at her sliced finger. She didn't want to worry her friends…

A warm and tender hand rubbed her shoulder blade, "Just what, Lucy?"

It was Natsu.

She turned to face him and that's when she saw it, a giant bandage on his right forearm.

And suddenly the phone call she and Natsu had earlier echoed in her mind.

" _OWW!" Natsu had yelped._

" _What's wrong?"she had asked._

" _Sliced myself on some glass," he had groaned. "Gahh I'm bleeding_!"

For Natsu's sake, she had to tell them, "It says to not let it enter the bloodstream."

"Well that's easy," Gajeel said. "Just avoid the damn room. And s'not like any of us had any cuts, right?"

Everyone shook their head _no_ , including Natsu.

She frowned as she looked up at Natsu.

He didn't realize?

She bit her lip harshly.

Why was she the one who had to break the news to him?

Mustering up some courage, she said, "Natsu, that cut on your arm," she pointed to it. "What did you cut yourself on?"

Natsu's lips pursed in thought, "Hmmm…On the stupid shards of glass from that tank—OH!"

His hand dropped from her back in an instant.

Everyone sucked in a breath.

Natsu held his bandaged arm out in front of him and stared at it with an unreadable expression.

"Natsu…" Levy put a palm to her cheek.

"Well—Well I'm sure he's going to be fine," Gray said slowly. "It'll take a lot more than a damn infection to take this fire ass down."

"Of course he's going to be fine," Gajeel scoffed. "He's the Salamander."

"Does it say why not?" Erza asked Lucy.

"Umm…" Lucy turned back to the book and skimmed the next couple of lines.

Her heart nearly stopped.

 _By entering the bloodstream, the bacteria is able to feed off the nutrients being carried through the blood, causing it to grow stronger and more potent. Not only will the effects of the bacterium speed up the sickness, the sickness will also be immensely painful compared to someone affected through the respiratory system._

She didn't want to speak, but she did, "Says that it speeds up the process and it's extra painful…"

She turned back towards Natsu just in time to watch his Adams apple bob up and down.

Was he scared?

She almost couldn't believe it.

When has Natsu ever been scared?

It made _her_ scared, but she didn't care about herself at the moment. All she cared about was Natsu, whether she was mad at him or not, her friend needed her.

But what could she possibly do?

Tell him she's probably dying too—because misery loves company?

No, that didn't seem right.

So instead, she gently placed her hand on his thigh and rubbed small, soothing circles. "What's with the weird face?" she playfully winked.

"Lucy…" he gaped at her with surprised expression.

"It doesn't suit you," she continued, still drawing circles on him. "And worrying doesn't suit you very much either…"

"Tchh, weirdo," a smile broke onto his face,"I ain't worryin'."

"Good," she sounded stern, with her head held high in the air.

"So does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" he inquired, watching her delicate hand on his thigh.

"Oh no," she removed her hand from his leg, "I'm still mad at you."

His face scrunched up with frustration, "Well then I'm mad at you!"

"Why are you mad at me?"

"Because you're mad at me!"

"That's a stupid reason!" she wailed, with her arms up in the air.

"Well then let's hear why you're mad at me," he growled, his hands balling up.

"Hmph," she stood up and walked over to where Gray was sitting.

Gray looked rather uncomfortable as he looked between Natsu and Lucy, both of whom were sitting with their arms crossed over their chests with steam coming out of their ears.

"Lovers spat is annoying," Gajeel grumbled.

"Tell me about it," Gray grumbled back.

"IT'S NOT A LOVERS SPAT!" Lucy screeched.

Natsu, however, remained quiet.

And suddenly everyone's phone went off.

Levy let out a tiny yelp as she pulled her phone out first, "Group chat," she informed everyone.

"From Mira," Lucy said with her phone in her hand.

"The schools on lockdown," Mira had written.

"I just heard," Cana replied.

"Lucy and Natsu," Lisanna wrote next. "Are you guys still there for detention?"

"Yeah," Natsu replied. "The locked us in here."

"Oh my," Mira wrote. "Are you guys okay? What happened?"

"I heard they are evacuating anyone who lives within a 100 foot radius of the school," Cana informed the group.

"We're fine," Lucy wrote back. "Erza, Gray, Levy, and Gajeel are locked in with us as well. We accidentally knocked over a tank that contains a deadly bacteria."

"Why are they evacuating houses?" Erza asked.

"I don't know. Apparently it's just a precaution to evacuate anyone nearby."

"Schools closed for now," Lisanna wrote. "They are going to give us two weeks off, hoping they figure something out before they send us off to different school districts."

Lucy swallowed, _so that means_ …

"So I guess we aren't getting out by Monday," Levy's voice wavered.

Gajeel moved closer to her and patted her back.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Gray asked. "It's not like any of us are prepared to live here for the next couple of weeks."

"Well," Erza said, "the school has supplies in case of an emergency; such as blankets and pillows. And there are also toothbrushes and other important necessities…"

"What about clothes?" Lucy asked, gazing down at her school uniform. She did not like the idea of wearing this for the next several days.

"Yeah," Gray said, "what are supposed do? Wear the same clothes every day?"

"Maybe you should start by _wearing_ some clothes first, stupid pervert," Natsu sneered.

Lucy looked at Gray and her eyes popped out of her head, "YOUR CLOTHES!"

"Heh?" Gray blinked before looking downwards to see that he was only in boxers, "DAMN IT! HOW DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN?!" and then he glanced around the room, "WHERE DID MY CLOTHES EVEN GO?!"

"You really are amazing," Lucy murmured in pure disbelief. How could someone possibly lose their clothes?

"Oi!" Natsu protested. "I'm more amazing than that stupid stripper!"

"You wish," Gray smirked.

"I don't have to wish," Natsu smirked back.

"Anyway," Levy interrupted before Gray could say his retort, "The school has been collecting clothes for charity so I guess we could just wear the donated clothes."

"Oh right!" Erza's face lit up. "Great thinking, Levy."

"Levy, you're a genius!" Lucy beamed.

Levy blushed in response.

"We should all take a shower," Erza stated out of nowhere.

"I could use one…" Lucy savored at the thought of warm water pouring down her skin, washing away all the stress…

"I don't wanna," Natsu moaned with a pout on his face.

"Same," Gray concurred.

"Well you two smell like sweat and I will not tolerate that," she scolded. "And besides, I want us to shower so that we can try to wash off that bacteria in case it's on our skin."

"Fine," they grumbled.

 **XOXOX**

The group stopped in front of the locker rooms. It was pretty convenient that the girl's locker room was right across from the boy's locker room.

"Do you guys wanna shower in the same locker room with us?" Erza asked, looking at the boys.

Everybody's, excluding Erza's, jaw smacked the floor.

"Erza!" Levy and Lucy cried, staring at the girl with bewildered expressions.

Natsu cupped a hand over his mouth and loud-whispered to Gray and Gajeel, "Is this a trick question?"

"I have no clue," Gray loud-whispered back, with sweat dripping down his forehead.

"We used to bathe together all the time, remember, Natsu and Gray?" Erza innocently asked.

"What kind of relationship did you guys have?" Lucy shivered.

"WHEN WE WERE KIDS!" Natsu yelled.

"WH-WHAT HE SAID!" Gray yelled as well.

"I say we do it, Ghihi." Gajeel smirked.

"Gajeel!" Levy shot him a dirty look.

"What?" he asked, pointing his thumb over at Erza, "She offered."

"So?" Levy huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

"YOU KNOW WHAT? I DON'T CARE WHAT KIND OF RELATIONSHIP YOU THREE HAD, BUT THE BOYS AREN'T ALLOWED INSIDE OUR SHOWERS!" Lucy screamed.

"So loud," Natsu grumbled, placing his hands over his ears as he glared at Lucy.

"It's not what you think," Gray blushed. "We didn't have any kind of relationship…"

"I don't get why you are getting so worked up, Lucy," Erza frowned. "Hasn't Natsu seen you naked plenty of times?"

Lucy's face turned into a brilliant shade of crimson, "It's-It's not what you think! I never _let_ him see me naked! He always just barges into my house when I happen to be changing!"

"What about the time you let him grope your boobs?" Levy questioned.

"You what?!" Gray and Gajeel exclaimed with their eyes popping out of their heads.

Natsu looked bored and disinterested in the conversation.

"I DIDN'T LET HIM!" Lucy sobbed. "HE'S JUST A PERVERT!"

That seemed to spike Natsu's interest, "Oi! I was only tryin' to cover you up! You're the one who's the perv! Walkin' around naked…Only a perv would do that!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU PULLED THE ZIPPER DOWN ON MY DRESS!" her arms flailed all over.

"Because I thought it would be funny," he proudly beamed.

Lucy turned towards Erza with a frantic expression, "I don't want to shower with them!"

"Alright," Erza nodded and then she looked over at the boys, "You guys are no longer allowed to shower with us."

"Didn't want to anyways," Natsu grumbled, looking away to hide his blush.

"Same," Gray awkwardly ran his fingers through his hair.

"Whatever," Gajeel grunted, looking as though he genuinely didn't care.

And Lucy let out a loud sigh of relief, _What was Erza thinking?_

 **XOXOX**

The showers weren't the best looking; old, kind of rusting with chipped pink walls and flooring, but they did the job right. The water reached Lucy's ideal temperature—super hot to the point where it just barely burns.

One good thing about the school, was that they supplied shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.

She lathered her hair, gently massaging her scalp as she rinsed all the soap out.

Then she washed her body, making sure to scrub extra hard in hopes of ridding herself of that damn bacteria…

And just as she was scrubbing her chest, she noticed some strange redness below her left breast. "Huh?" she ran a finger over it and gasped.

It was bumpy and it kind of hurt... "When did I hurt myself there?" she wondered aloud, trying to think of what she might have accidentally hit.

Though the more she looked at it, the more it looked like a rash…

She sucked in a breath as a voice replayed in her head.

It was Levy's voice: _Most common symptom is a rash apparently._

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Great place to end the chapter, right?!**

 **Hope you all liked this one!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!**

 **AHHH YOU'RE ALL SERIOUSLY THE BEST!**

 **Hope you all like this chapter!**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

"Good thing we all decided to donate clothes," Erza commented as she put on a blue skirt with a white top.

"Yeah," Levy agreed, shoving on an orange dress.

"Though there's a reason why I donated in the first place," Lucy muttered as she struggled to pull her tight black skirt that had a red dragon printed on it, past her waist.

"Are you guys dressed already?" Natsu asked, walking in.

"NATSU!" Lucy cried, ungracefully tugging her red tank top over her head.

"What?" he stared blankly at her.

She turned back around to face him, "YOU CAN'T JUST WALK IN HERE!" she angrily gestured.

"Oi," he stared at her outfit. "You tried to donate that? I like that skirt."

"It barely fits," Lucy grumbled, self-consciously tugging it down.

"Maybe you should try dieting?" Natsu cheekily grinned.

With a fist raised, she snapped, "Maybe you should try shoving—"

"I think we better get out of here," Levy said quickly, pulling Lucy out of the locker room.

"So did any of you…" Lucy squirmed in place, hiding her hands behind her back, "find any…you know…rashes?"

"Nope," everyone, including Natsu shook their heads.

"Good," she forced a smile on her face, despite the knots in her stomach. She was relieved that no one had any rashes and she also relieved that no one was realized _she_ was the only one who didn't deny it.

"So we still have time before we all die?" Gray tried to joke, but everyone shot him looks of contempt. "Sorry," he awkwardly muttered, grazing his hand through his dark, raven hair.

A loud gargling noise rang between them just as Natsu moaned, "Can we get fooooddd or somethin'?"

"I am pretty hungry myself," Erza commented. "We have to cook the food...So I guess we should all head to the kitchen—"

"GAJEEL AND I WILL COOK!" Levy elatedly interrupted, volunteering herself and the unsuspecting Gajeel.

"Heh?" Gajeel scratched his eyebrow piercing. "We will?"

"Yes!" Levy shot him a strange look.

He swallowed, "Yes! C'mon, Shrimp!" He grabbed her hand and tugged her away.

"Something weird is going on between those two," Lucy suspiciously rubbed her chin.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked.

"They keep wanting to go off alone together," she explained.

"So?" Natsu cocked his head to the side, looking very bemused. "I keep wanting to get you alone."

Lucy sputtered at the boy.

"Now what are we going to do?" Gray inquired, stuffing his hands into the jeans he was now wearing, but where was his shirt?

"Well for starters," Lucy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "you could put a shirt on…"

"Eh?" he looked down at his naked chest. "Where did it go?!"

"What do you mean _where did it go_?" Natsu gritted. "You weren't wearing a shirt to begin with, you dumb exhibitionist."

"Oi!" Gray growled. "Shut it, Slanty Eyes."

"Make me, Droopy Eyes!"

"Gray," Erza said sternly. "Shirt. Now."

"Ay-Aye." Gray looked over at Lucy, "Could you lend me your shirt?"

"NO!" she cried, hugging her hands to her chest.

"Perv," Natsu snickered.

Gray's head hung and his shoulders slumped as he left to go find a shirt.

"Don't look so down…" Lucy clutched her cheek, watching the boy dig through a bin of donated clothes.

"So what should we do now?" Natsu asked. "I can't just sit around and wait for food…That's torturous!"

"We could play in the gym," Gray suggested, now wearing a dark tee-shirt.

"Volleyball?" Erza offered.

"Yosh!" Natsu pumped a fist into the air. "Sounds good to me."

Lucy fretfully tugged on her blonde hair as they walked to the gym, "I'm not particularly good at sports…"

Don't worry, Lucy. I'll teach ya how to play," Natsu beamed.

Her heart murmured, but she still managed to look away and blanch, "No thanks."

"Rejected," Gray sniggered.

"Tch, don't know what you're talkin' 'bout," Natsu tugged on his scarf.

 **XOXOX**

"HAH!" Gray cheered. "ANOTHER POINT FOR TEAM STRIPPER!"

"Did he really just call his team that?" Lucy sweated, while bashfully blushing since it was her fault Gray and Erza were able to score another point.

Well it wasn't her fault really…It was just that Erza and Gray were monsters at volleyball…And she had no idea how to play…Who knew how hard it was to hit the ball back over?

Maybe she shouldn't have refused Natsu's help…But she had to considering he wrapped his hands all around her when he tried to show her the proper way to bop the ball back.

And not to mention when he tried to position her body….Her cheeks heated at the memory.

"DAMN IT!" Natsu's hands balled up and then he looked over at the blushing blonde. "LUCYYY, HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO SUCK SO MUCH!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT?!" she threw her hands in the air, "I QUIT!"

"GOOD!" Natsu served the ball over the net. "It'll be easier to play without a deadweight anyways."

Her jaw smacked the floor and red hot anger flooded through her. She picked up one of the spare balls and nailed him right in the head.

"OOOFF," he smacked the hard gym floor.

Lucy chuckled to herself before sitting down on the bleachers.

The game grew intense without her playing.

Natsu was really getting into it and he managed to tie the score.

She tried to pay attention as the ball volleyed back and forth, but it was making her dizzy. They had asked her to keep score too…but she was doing an awful job at it at this point…

Actually, she felt a spout of nausea.

"I'm going to the bathroom," she announced to no one in particular and they didn't seem to hear her as they started arguing at the exact moment she spoke. "Oi…" she shook her head and left the gym.

 **XOXOX**

She hunched over the bathroom sink, splashing the cool water against her sweaty forehead. She had tried to make herself throw up, hoping it would make her feel better, but nothing had come up.

She glanced up at her reflection and cringed.

She looked scary.

Her eyes were still red, teary, and puffy.

Her hair looked frazzled.

And not to mention, as she pulled her tank top up, her rash looked worse…

She pulled the tank top back down and wiped her face with the gross, unabsorbent paper towels found everywhere in the school.

With a heavy sigh, she made her way back to the gym.

The hallway felt long and never ending, like one of those horror movies where the hallway keeps on extending…

She swallowed harshly as the rows of freshly painted, red lockers began to shake and the floor beneath her began to quiver.

She stumbled against a locker, placing a hand on it to steady her as her vision doubled, causing her to see two lockers numbered _123_.

She walked the best she could, but it was as though she had bricks for feet.

She fell against the locker again, glancing at the number to see how far she had walked.

Locker number _122_.

She wanted to cry.

But she was already crying, from what she could tell as a drop of water dribbled down chin.

"C'mon feet," she moaned. "I have to go back…to the…" her mind drew a blank. "Back to where?" She glanced around, looking at a white, empty hallway. "Where…Where am I?"

She rubbed her eyes and suddenly the school hallway was back.

A lump formed in her throat.

She was scared.

She tried to move again, but her feet gave out.

Her head roughly smacked against a locker as she tumbled to the floor.

She just barely put her hands out in time to protect her head and instant stinging pain shot through her palms.

She couldn't pull herself up.

She felt so weak.

 **XOXOX**

"What's the score now, Lucy?" Natsu called out.

No response.

"Lucy?" he looked over at the bleachers and blinked. "Where'd she go?"

"Huh?" Erza and Gray looked over at the bleachers and blinked as well.

"Maybe she went to the bathroom?" Erza suggested.

"Grrr," Natsu fumed, not listening to Erza, "I bet she went to the cafeteria to eat all the food first!"

"You really think that's likely?" Gray sweated.

"YOU MAY HAVE HAD A HEAD START, BUT 'M STILL GONNA EAT EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU, LUCY!" Natsu charged off into the hallway.

He raced off in the direction of the cafeteria. In the corner of his eye, he spotted a figure laying down in the middle of a random hallway.

He reached a skidded stop.

He could tell the thing on the floor was a person as he watched it struggle to stand up.

Blonde hair…

"Lucy?!" he raced down to her in an instant. "Lucy! Are you okay?!" He dropped to his knees beside her.

"I'm…alright…" she flashed him a brilliant grin that made his heart feel like it was on fire as she tried to push herself up into a sitting position. "Just dizzy…"

He swallowed nervously as he helped sit her up.

"You're bleeding," he observed the red stream that trickled down from the right corner of her forehead.

"Am I?" she brought her hand up and lightly touched the spot and winced. "Hurts."

He gave her a tight smile, "C'mon," he stood up and offered her a hand. "Let's get you cleaned up."

She accepted his offer and for what felt like the first time in a long time, she didn't argue with him.

"Are you able to walk?" he asked, nervous to let go of her.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Alright," he dropped his arms to his side, but stayed on guard in case he needed to catch her.

 **XOXOX**

Lucy sat on top of the Nurse's desk, with her feet dangling.

She watched as Natsu searched through the cabinets, pulling out a piece of gauze and a bottle of disinfectant.

He opened the bottle up, getting ready to pour some onto the gauze, but then he froze.

He glanced over his shoulders, meeting Lucy's wide-with-curiosity, brown eyes, "Can you not watch me?"

"Hmm?" she titled her head to the side.

"Stop staring at me!" he seethed. "You're makin' me nervous!"

She raised a brow, "How?"

"Because," his cheeks tinted pink. "You just are!" He raised the bottle of disinfectant, "And I'm gonna spill this everywhere! So just look away, Luucccyyy!"

"Fine, fine," she bit back a smile as she turned her head away.

He came back over to her with the gauze and leaned in close, causing her to suck in a breath.

His warm scent intoxicated her senses as his dark, onyx eyes looked intensely at her cut.

He licked his lips and with full concentration, he dabbed her forehead.

"OW!" she flinched, moving her head back.

"Sorry," his free hand cupped her chin, holding her face so she couldn't move away as he wiped her head again.

Her heartrate immensely increased and she couldn't breathe at all.

"Breathe, weirdo," Natsu lowly chuckled.

She did as commanded, though her breath came out shaky.

He pulled away, throwing out the gauze. Then he pulled out a clean gauze and held it against her head and then with his other hand, he grabbed Lucy's and placed it against the new gauze, "Hold it tightly."

"Okay."

He put space between them as he crossed him arms over his black shirt, "So what exactly happened?"

She put more pressure against the gauze, "I felt dizzy and I fell. That's all."

He stared at her with an unreadable expression.

She awkwardly fidgeted.

"Liar," he smirked.

"I'm not lying!"

"Yes you are!"

"I'm really not lying," she crossed her arms and looked away. "I felt nauseous so left to go to the bathroom and then I felt dizzy…and disoriented…and then I fell. That's all."

"Alright," he seemed satisfied with her answer and then a look of concern washed over his features.

She hopped off the desk, "I don't see why it's such a big deal."

Natsu grabbed her by the shoulders and held her firmly in place, "Of course it's a big deal. You're my friend and if something bad ever happened to you…"

"Then you wouldn't be able to shove me into Closet 17B with you ever again," she winked.

Natsu's face drained of all color.

He hastily let go of her as though she had burned him.

She gave him a quizzical look, but he only turned his back on her and grumbled, "Let's just go already."

"Alright," she followed as a smug grin danced upon her face.

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Eep! Poor Lucy :0**

 **Thanks for reading :')**

 **Hope you liked it!**

 **And I wish you all a lovely day/night or both!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AHH YOU ARE THE BEST!**

 **THANK YOU!**

 **XOXOX**

"Oh my…" Lucy's jaw smacked the floor. "What did they…?"

"It's godlyyy," drool dribbled out of Natsu's mouth as he eyed a mountain of rice balls that sat on top of one the lunch tables.

"Oh hey, Lucy and Natsu," Levy waved after she took a bite of a rice ball that was bigger than her own two hands.

"'Bout time you two showed up," Gajeel seethed, jumping out of his seat. He made his way over to Natsu and Lucy. "We worked hard cooking this dinner," each step he took with his steel boats, were louder and harsher than the last, "and yet you guys have the audacity to show up late?"

"Eep!" Lucy scampered behind Natsu, clutching the back of his shirt. "Sorry!"

Natsu let out an audible gulp, but not from the fear of angry Gajeel, but from Lucy's warm breath ghosting the exposed skin of his neck.

"Gajeel!" Levy chided, "Don't be rude! Seriously, it's fine you guys are late."

"It's my fault," Lucy admitted, resting her head on Natsu's scarf, on the back of his neck. She could feel him stiffen, but she ignored that. "I hit my head and Natsu helped clean me up."

"Oh my," Erza put down her rice ball, which was about two times the size of Levy's. "Are you okay, Lucy?"

"Yeah," she moved away from Natsu, "just a scratch. See?" She pushed up her blonde bangs.

"Ooh," Levy winced, turning away.

"That's some scratch," Gray commented with his droopy eyes bugging out.

"I'll say…" Gajeel's red eyes had widened at the sight of it.

"YOSH!" Natsu raced over to Rice Ball Mountain with a huge smile on his face, "SO WE DON'T HAVE TO RESORT TO CANNIBALISM AFTER ALL!"

Lucy's eye twitched as she took a seat next to Gray.

Gray rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb, "I'm trapped in here with a lunatic."

"I'm scared," Lucy shivered, rubbing her arms.

"YOSH! YOU BURNT SOME OF THE BALLS FOR ME!?" Natsu happily exclaimed and then, if possible, an even wider smile appeared on his face like a kid on Christmas morning, "THERE'S HOT SAUCE!?" He clutched the bottle to his chest as though it were his lifeline.

Then he grabbed about ten rice balls, each of inconsistent sizes, and stuffed them onto a plate. With his hot sauce in one hand and his plate in the other, he happily walked over to Lucy and took the empty spot next to her.

Lucy watched with pure curiosity as the strange pink-haired boy doused his plate with red, spicy sauce.

He stuffed a whole rice ball into his mouth, "Mmmmmm." His eyes were closed and a satisfied smile appeared onto his lips.

Lucy giggled, "Is it really that good with hot sauce?"

"Yes!" he beamed. "Try some!"

She grimaced, putting a hand up, "No thanks."

"Why not?" Natsu pouted before stuffing another one into his mouth.

"Probably too spicy for me." She looked at the scorched-black markings on his food and wrinkled her nose, "And too burnt…"

"That's why frozen is the best way to go," Gray said, offering Lucy a rice ball from his plate.

Her eyes bugged out, "FROZEN?!"

She glanced at his plate. Shimmering ice crystals danced all around his rice balls.

"Nothing like a little crunch," Gray's blue eyes shone like the ice on his plate as he shot her grin. With a loud crunch, Gray bit into his food.

She gave Natsu a sideways glance, who was now drinking the hot sauce from the bottle.

She choked.

"I'm surrounded by weirdos," she cried into her palms.

"You're not alone, Lucy," Levy exasperated.

"Huh?" Lucy snapped her head up to meet Levy's warm, brown eyes that looked a bit frantic as she pointed towards the guy with all the piercings.

At first, Lucy couldn't see what Levy was getting at.

Gajeel was scarfing down ball after ball and nothing seemed out of the ordinary—except something metallic sparkled on his plate.

"What is that?" she squinted.

"Metal shavings," Levy's face was bright red.

"WHAT?!" Lucy jumped ten feet into the air. "OH MY… I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Calm down, Lucy," Natsu tugged her hand to get her to sit back down.

She begrudgingly complied.

He gazed at her with unreadable dark eyes.

 _Why is he staring at me_? A vein throbbed on her forehead as she met her stare head on.

He continued to stare at her without wavering in the slightest.

 _Now I'm getting creeped out…_ "What?" she swallowed.

"You're not eating," he pointed out.

"I know," she raised a brow, trying to see what kind of point he was making.

"Why not?"

"Not hungry."

"You gotta eat somethin'," he shoved his plate in front of her.

"No way," she shoved it back.

The thought of eating made her want to vomit. She never felt so repulsed by food in her entire life. Even watching everyone eat kind of made her want to gag.

"Lucy," he pushed it back in front of her.

"I don't want!" she pushed it away again, but with so much force that one of the rice balls tumbled to the floor. "Besides, yours are all contaminated." She glanced at all the red sauce dripping all over his plate.

He ungracefully picked one up that was seemingly normal, "Here. Nothin' wrong with this one."

"I'm really not hungry," she turned away from him, crossing her arms over her chest.

He stuck the ball in front of her face, "Don't make me force feed you."

She frowned and turned to face him, "Why do you care so much?"

"'Cuz," he sounded nonchalant, but his eyes held something more, "you said you were dizzy and stuff and that's probably 'cuz you're hungry."

His slanted eyes blazed with warmth.

"Natsu…" she gaped at him and noticed that his normally spikey hair had seemed to flatten a bit, giving Natsu bangs.

Her stomach did a somersault and it wasn't because of the food he held out in front of her face.

"So…" he started. "EAT!" He attempted to force the food into her mouth, but Lucy swiped at him with lightning fast reflexes.

The ball slipped from his hand and flew right at the one person that they feared most.

Lucy's hand slapped her mouth and Natsu winced, muttering a, "Shit."

A loud bang rang throughout the cafeteria as a fist slammed the table.

"Who. Threw. That?" the flaming scarlet-haired girl raged.

Lucy could have sworn flames were going to erupt from the girl at any moment, so she blurted out, "NATSU DID IT!"

"LUCY!" Natsu shot her a look of disdain, which she, in return, gave him an apologetic smile.

"NATSU!" Erza chucked a giant glob of rice at Natsu, but somehow it struck an unsuspecting Gajeel.

"Well that was way off…" Lucy murmured, seeing that Gajeel was sitting next Gray, which was nowhere near Natsu.

"The rice," Erza blushed, "it's hard to throw…"

"Is she blushing?" Gray ogled.

"I think she is," Lucy ogled as well.

"What the?" Gajeel blinked, with rice dripping down his face and had coated his black, unruly hair. His confused eyes turned bloodthirsty. "SALAMANDER!" He threw his rice ball right at Natsu, but Natsu moved just in time.

"OI, METAL HEAD!" Natsu fumed, waving his arms all around. "ERZA WAS THE ONE WHO HIT YOU, NOT ME, STUPID!" Then he threw a ball right back at Gajeel, but he had missed, thus striking poor Levy.

"AHH!" Levy looked horrified as rice exploded all over her.

"Heh," Natsu sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "whoops…"

"Why you…!" Levy chucked her own rice ball at Natsu, but this time, it was Gray who had been hit.

"Oi!" Gray jumped up, a ball ready to fire and instead of chucking it at Levy, he smirked at Lucy before smashing it into her hair.

"KYA!" she cried as she felt the sticky rice tumble all around her and right into her cleavage. "So uncomfortable…"

"You know what this means?" Natsu smirked at everyone, as he tied his scarf around his forehead and then he lazily tossed up and down a ball of rice, "FOOD FIGHT!"

And the cafeteria turned into a war zone as rice, and whatever the rice was stuffed with, flew everywhere.

Lucy participated, making sure to strike everyone at least once, but she grew winded rather quickly.

It felt like her walk from the bathroom.

The ground turned uneven as she tried to find somewhere to sit.

But she couldn't see anything thanks to an annoying glare in her vision.

 _Glare_?

She gasped.

"No," she mumbled to herself, clutching her head between her hands and tightly closing her eyes, "Not a migraine…Anything but that."

"Lucy?" She could hear Levy say in the distance. "Are you okay?"

Lucy couldn't speak.

Her head felt like it would crack open any minute.

The pain was splitting.

"Gahh!" she fell to her knees, squeezing her head even tighter.

"Lucy!" she could warm hands on her arms. Was the person trying to pull her up or were they trying to comfort her? She couldn't tell.

She just wanted the headache to go away.

"Make it stop!" she cried.

It felt like something was drilling into her head.

"GAHHH!" her clammy fingers tangled themselves into her hair, tugging on the roots.

Tears soaked her cheek.

"What's wrong?" the owner of the hands asked.

"It hurts!" was the only thing she could say.

"Migraine?" she could barely hear Levy ask. "We need to get her somewhere dark."

"Got it," and before Lucy knew it, she was thrown over someone's shoulders. "Stop screamin', Lucy. You'll be okay. I promise."

She was screaming?

"Maybe I should knock her out?" Someone, who was probably Erza, suggested.

"Do it," Gajeel's gruff voice rang clearly.

She could hear Gray say, "I don't think that's a good—"

And darkness took over.

 **XOXOX**

Lucy began to stir in Natsu's arms, while he was in the midst of looking for somewhere dark.

"Na-tsu?" she mumbled.

"Yeah, Lucy?" he glanced at the girl.

She no longer looked like she was in pain as a small smile settled on her lips.

 _Cute…_ His face flushed up as he tried to shove the thought out his mind.

She nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck. Her lips lightly brushed against his bare skin, causing Natsu to tense up.

He silently wished he hadn't tied his scarf around the top of his head…

His heart was racing a mile a minute as he awaited for Lucy's answer

"I'm…"

"You're what?" his voice came out surprisingly breathy.

But he never did get an answer for that Lucy had drifted back into her slumbers.

"Don't fall asleep in the middle of sentence, Weirdo," he mumbled with his cheeks burning crimson as her lips continued to caress his neck every time she breathed.

Goosebumps decorated his body.

"Where am I supposed to take you anyways?" he groaned.

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Hope this chapter turned out okay!**

 **And I hope you all have a lovely day/night!**


	7. Chapter 7

***HUGS* YOU ARE ALL SO AWESOME!**

 **PLEASE ENJOY :')**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

"Mmm," Lucy pleasantly moaned, snuggling into the warmth that she was laying against.

"Lucy?" a voice asked, sending vibrations against her pillow. "You awake?"

"Kindaaa," she purred as she relished in the feel of a gentle hand rubbing up and down her arm.

"Thank God!" the voice rumbled, "This position is so uncomfortableee!"

"Heh?" Lucy's eyes popped open and she was met with darkness. She blinked around as her eyes began to adjust. She didn't notice anything out of ordinary so she shrugged, still in her sleepy daze and turned to lay back down on her pillow. The smell of fire and warmth comforted her and that's when her blood ran cold. "NATSU?!"

She jumped backwards, realizing her pillow was, in fact, not a pillow. It was Natsu's chest—She had snuggled against Natsu's chest.

She wanted to die from the embarrassment.

"GAHH!" His hands slapped over his ears as he scooted away from her as far as he could go in the tiny room. "Do you have to be so loud? I'm right here!"

"Why was I laying against your chest?!" she cried.

"You wouldn't get off me."

She blinked, "Why wouldn't I get off you?"

"The hell would I know?" he scoffed, tugging at the hem of his shirt. He looked away from her and asked, "So uhh how do you feel?"

"How do I feel?" she thoughtfully repeated his question. Well her head was no longer pounding—in fact, her head felt clear, like the nap she had taken cured her of all pain and even her slight anxiety. A grin broke out onto her lips, "I feel really good."

As though her grin was contagious, Natsu grinned back.

"Say, where are we?" she curiously asked, noticing how they were both sitting on the floor of a _very_ small room that smelt a bit musty.

"Errr…" Natsu sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hmm?" She looked around, noticing some cleaning supplies along with some classroom supplies, such as chalk, erasers, torn up textbooks…

"A closet?" She mused and then she froze. _Wait a second!_ She choked on her spit, "DON'T TELL ME WE ARE IN CLOSET 17B AGAIN!"

Natsu flinched with a scowl plain on his face, "What'd I say 'bout yelling? I'm literally right next to you!" He waved his hands to point out the limited space they had between them.

"WHY AM I IN THIS CLOSET WITH YOU _AGAIN_?!" she continued her wailing with her hands smacking the hard floor, like a small child having a temper tantrum.

"I needed to find a dark place 'cuz of your migraine," he glowered. "And this was the only dark place I could think of!"

"Seriously?!" She asked with bewilderment. " _This was the only place you could think of_?!"

"That's what I said," he continued his glowering, while twiddling his fingers.

"So like a classroom with the blinds closed and the lights off hadn't crossed your mind?"

He held his pointer finger up and opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it, his finger slowly lowered. "Heh, I didn't think of that!" A cheeky smile ghosted his features.

"IDIOT!" and she lunged at him, tackling him onto his back as she straddled his hips. He let out a quick gasp just as she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him back and forth causing him to bang into the floor with each shake, "QUIT DRAGGING ME INTO THIS STUPID CLOSET WITH YOU!"

"GAHH," he moaned with each shake.

She finally let go, feeling mildly pleased with herself as Natsu's eyes rolled to the back of his head.

She was just about to pull herself off him, when suddenly, she smacked the back of her head on a foreign object that was sticking out of the shelf.

"OWW!" she yelped as she fell flat against Natsu, who in return, let out an "Oofff!"

Her face was at the crook of his neck, her chest was flushed against his and her legs still straddled him. She hastily pulled herself up the best she could, which was only about a couple of inches.

She got a clear view of his face, which looked very annoyed.

With gritted teeth, Natsu said, "Get off!" But she only titled her head to the side, giving him a quizzical look.

Their faces were dangerously close.

Her breathing stopped at the realization and was it her imagination or did Natsu suck in a breath as well?

He stared up at her with a clear look of surprise and wonder, but what was he _wondering_ about exactly?

Before she could dwell any further, the door banged open, "I heard noises in here…"

"Gray!" Levy gasped. "Don't just barge in on them! They might be… _you know_ …"

"What?" the boy asked. "It's Natsu and Lucy we are talking about. Do you really think they would be—THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!"

"NOTHING!" Lucy clambered off Natsu and stood up. She ran a hand down her body smooth out her clothes.

"Didn't look like nothing!" Gray looked horrified as did Levy.

Natsu sat up, crossing his arms over his chest and announced, "Lucy's a pervert."

"WHATT?!" she exclaimed, her face turned bright red as she shot Natsu a look of disbelief. Natsu had his head turned slightly with his nose up in the air.

Levy's warm, brown eyes widened as she let out a gasp, "Lucy, what did you do to him?"

Throwing her arms up in the air, Lucy yelled, "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"Let's just get out of here," Gray's face scrunched up with disgust. "This place is just nasty."

"Fine by me," Lucy said with clenched teeth as she stormed out of the closet.

She could hear Gray snigger from behind, "Wonder how long it will be before she talks to you after _this_ closet trip."

"Shut it," Natsu growled back.

"Glad to see you're feeling better, Lucy," Levy sounded relieved. "I was so scared…"

Lucy smiled softly, "Well don't be! I feel good as new."

"Really?" Levy eyed her carefully and Lucy happily nodded. A smile broke out onto the small girl's face as she tackled Lucy into a hug.

"WAH!" Lucy cried out, surprised by the sudden assault and then she burst out laughing as Levy hugged her to death.

Natsu watched with a grin of his own surfacing his face.

Maybe taking her into the closet wasn't one of the best ideas he has had, but it still did the trick; her migraine was gone.

Though he hadn't expected her to fall asleep on him. And he hadn't expected her to attack him…and he tried not to blush at the memory of their position or the way her breasts pressed into his chest…

"You know when we said to go find a dark place," Gray said, "we didn't mean take her into the closet, perv."

"She's the perv!" Natsu insisted. "She wouldn't stop touching me."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED!" Lucy screeched, struggling to get Levy off of her, but Levy only tightened her hug.

Gray shivered, "I don't want to know what you two were doing."

"WE WEREN'T DOING ANYTHING!" the blonde sobbed while Natsu let out a musical stream of laughter.

 **XOXOX**

"50 MISSED CALLS?!" Lucy ogled at her cellphone. "I'm so dead," she tumbled backwards onto the sofa that was in the video game club room.

"You didn't call your dad?" Levy inquired.

"That's really irresponsible," Erza chided, leaning against the back wall.

"I forgot!" she gushed. "And it's hard to remember considering none of you have parents…"

In union, the lot replied, "Good point."

"So call him back now—OI! THAT'S A CHEAP SHOT, BOLTS FOR BRAINS!" Natsu growled.

"Ghihi," Gajeel grinned, keeping his eyes focused on the screen. "Oi, Bunny Girl, make sure we're in the room when you call. I wanna hear him yell at you!"

"Mean!" Lucy gasped with slight hurt.

"Gajeel!" Levy snapped. "Don't be mean to Lucy!"

"What?" he turned his head away from the video game and looked at Levy. "You know it would be funny!"

Levy shook her head.

"He's going to kill me…" Lucy gloomily sulked as she exited the room.

"Poor thing," Erza frowned, as she watched the door slowly close.

Gray lightly tapped Natsu's shoulder to get his attention. Natsu paused the game and looked up at the droopy-eyed boy, "She's gonna need you."

Natsu silently blushed as he nodded his head and handed Gray the game controller before getting up to wait by the door.

Lucy came back into the room after about five minutes. Natsu tried to decipher her mood by scrutinizing her face, but her brown eyes were void and her lips were expressionless.

"How did it go?" Levy timidly asked.

Lucy nervously tugged on her blonde hair, "Well he wasn't too happy about the detention…"

"You never told him?" Erza sounded surprised.

"No, I told him I was volunteering in some kind of school cleanup project," Lucy blushed, dropping her head. "Anyway, he heard about the quarantine at the school and he was worried. I think he was nearly in tears…"

Natsu pursed his lips. He knew Lucy's father could be pretty stern and wasn't quick to show emotion.

"He's angry at the lack of information," she continued. "He called up anyone he could think of trying to get answers, but alas, nothing…And they won't let anyone near the school."

"Damn," Gray muttered, twisting a hand into his black hair.

"How can they not have any information yet?! It's been an entire day!" Gajeel growled. "This is so fucked up."

"My dad hasn't given up yet," Lucy stated. "He's getting his lawyers ready, but still…" her head hung.

A bandaged arm wrapped around her shoulder.

Lucy glanced up to see Natsu grinning at everyone in the room, "Heh," he chuckled. "This makes me feel a lot better."

Everyone blinked curiously at the pink haired boy.

"'Cuz nothin' can stop an angry, old rich dude from getting what he wants." He looked down at Lucy and said softly, "So don't you worry, Lucy."

"Thanks, Natsu," she smiled.

 **XOXOX**

They set up sleeping bags in the school gym, since no one could civilly decide who would get the couch in the game room or the three beds in the Nurse's Office.

They were spread out pretty far apart though, since the gym was so big and there really wasn't a reason to sleep so closely.

Lucy preferred it this way, since she loved personal space, but she couldn't sleep—more like she didn't _want to_ sleep.

She had too many questions and not enough answers about Zeref and his strange book…

It was haunting her.

"You should rest, Lucy," Levy said, noticing Lucy was on her phone.

"Yeah," Gajeel mumbled. "Your phone light is annoying."

"Sorry," her face heated. "I was just looking stuff up on that Zeref guy…"

"Find anything interesting?" Erza inquired, sitting up from her sleeping bag.

"Well it says here that all those diseases in that book were actually _created_ by him."

"What?" Gray was sitting up now.

"So he's like some sorta mad scientist?" Natsu asked, laying on his stomach now with his face in his hands.

"What a sick bastard," Gray murmured.

"Well I feel kind of bad for him," Lucy confided. "It says that he created those diseases in the hopes to find a way to bring his younger brother back from the dead."

"Aww," Levy cooed. "That's so sad."

"What a way to do it though," Natsu muttered. "Creating all those deadly diseases…So dumb. The dead should stay dead…"

Lucy shot him a curious look, but Natsu was too busy looking at his hands to notice.

Gray rhetorically asked, "So he made all those diseases for his own selfish reasons and now we are left to deal with the aftermath?" Then he drily added, "Awesome."

"Oh my god!" Lucy's eyes lit up as she skimmed the next few lines of the website she was on.

"What?" Erza asked.

"It says here that there's been rumors that Zeref had created a universal cure for all the demons—I mean diseases, but this website calls them demons."

"WHAT?!"

Everyone was now gathered around Lucy, with anxious looking expressions.

She nervously swallowed, "The cure was written in another book."

"Where is this book?" Erza quickly asked, grasping Lucy's arm. "Why aren't they using it to get us out of here?"

"I-I don't know," Lucy stuttered as she continued to read more, "It says the book was never found."

"Damn it," Gajeel growled.

"What's the book called?" Natsu asked.

"The Book of E.N.D."

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Eep! Lucy's feeling better—but for** _ **how long**_ **? ;)**

 **And wahhh a possible cure?!**

 **Hehe hope you all liked this chapter!**

 **Thank you all so much for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Eep! I was so nervous I wouldn't be able to finish this chapter because I was attacked by my pet cactus :0 well actually my cactus tipped over and I stupidly picked it up by the spikes** — **twice, might I add.**

 **But yay, my hands all better so here you go!**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

The gym floor was a floor for rough-housing, not sleeping, Lucy had realized as she rolled over for the umpteenth time, hoping to soothe the ache in her back, from lying on the hard, cold ground—and that was with the little padding the stupid sleeping bag has provided.

She let out a frustrated groan as she sat up, gazing around the pitch black gym—well almost pitched black—except for the moonlight that shone through the window of a locked door that led outside.

She pulled out her phone to check the time, 12:00 AM.

She had tons of text messages, all from her group chat; Mainly from Mira who seemed very worried and kept asking how everyone is holding up. Lisanna had asked if they had found out anything yet, and Juvia was wondering if Gray was alright. Erza had answered them all, explaining what they had found out and even telling Juvia that Gray was doing just fine.

Then the chat went on to talk about their plans for the night—and Lucy immediately put her phone down. Bitterness boiled inside her like kettle of water. She did not want to know about the fun they were planning outside these damn school walls.

She tried to lay back down, but it felt futile at this point. So with a loud huff, she stood up and gazed at all her friends' slumbering faces. Natsu, who was the closet to her— _when did he move so close?—_ by only a few feet, was lying on his stomach with soft snores echoing around. She looked to her left and saw Erza slumbering peacefully on her back. Lucy's eyes wandered over to Gray next, whose sleeping bag seemed to have vanished along with his clothes for that he was lying on the cold floor in only a pair of icy blue boxers.

But something made Lucy's eyes nearly full out of their sockets and her jaw smack the ground.

Gajeel and Levy were sleeping right next to each other—no they were sleeping _together._ Gajeel had a beefy arm coiled nicely around Levy's slender body, as they lay on top of their sleeping bags.

With a heavy sigh, Lucy exited the gym, not caring that she let the door slam shut.

 **XOXOX**

She let her insomnia guide her to the place she felt most at home; the library. It was an impressive library, with as many books as there were stars in the night sky—well maybe that was an exaggeration, but still, it had a ton of books and it was three stories tall, with a narrow, spiral staircase, and it was actually one of the oldest libraries in the entire countries, dating back to who knows when.

She reveled in the dead silence of the library, not that the gym was loud or anything, it just felt nice to be away from people.

She browsed through the shelves, hoping to find a story that would catch her eye.

 _Fairy Tail_ , the spine of a book read.

She made a reach for it, but then a voice called out to her, "Knew I would find you in here!"

She sucked in a breath and whirled around, "Natsu?!" The boy shot her an amused grin. "What are you doing here?"

He pursed his lips as he pointed at her, "I could ask you the same thing." She gave him an exasperated look, causing him to amend his statement. "I was looking for you." Her pulse jumped. "I heard the door slam in the gym and realized you were missing." A smile sprouted onto his lips, "Figures you would be in the library."

A blush crept slowly onto her pale cheeks as she turned away sharply, "Well it's not that hard to guess."

"So what's up?" he asked, but Lucy didn't reply, instead she went back to browsing, looking for the book she was about to pick up. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Maybe."

"Do you feel…?"

"No," her features soften as she met his concerned face. "The floor was uncomfortable is all."

"Truuee," he placed his hands on his backbone and leaned backwards in order to crack his back. He slumped down onto one of the puffy, red couches. "We shoulda just slept in here. Look at all these couches. _Soooo soft_."

He brought up a good point. The library was easily one of the comfiest rooms in the entire school, with couches on each floor and there were fireplaces in the reading rooms.

"We are so stupid," Lucy laughed, shaking her head out of shame.

"Nahh," Natsu lethargically sighed. "Just Frost Bite and Metal Face are stupid."

She giggled, leaning against the book shelf across from Natsu, and Natsu joined in her giggle fest and as their laughter died down, a loud gargling sound rang between them.

"Sorry," Lucy's hand clutched her stomach as she sheepishly smiled, "I guess I'm hungry."

"Well you didn't eat dinner," he said, getting off the couch. "If I were you, I would have dropped dead from hunger by now…" He reached out a hand and beckoned, "C'mon."

She gratefully took it and relished in the warmth his hand provided as he led her to the cafeteria.

 **XOXOX**

The kitchen was larger than Lucy had anticipated. It was also newer, with new pots and pans and a new stove and what not…How did the school have enough money for this? Lucy would never know.

"Whatcha in the mood for?" he asked.

"Hmm," Lucy looked around, thoughtfully, trying to figure out what she was craving. She didn't want an actual meal sooo… "Ice cream?"

"I feel like Erza would disapprove of this, but who cares?" Natsu laughed as he and Lucy took turns eating out of a pint of cookies and cream flavored ice cream. They were seated on top of the metal kitchen counter, with their feet dangling, though Natsu quickly pulled his legs up to sit in a crisscrossed fashion.

"She definitely would," she said after a mouthful. "Mmmm."

"Think it needs some hot sauce…" he contemplated as he reached for the bottle that was conveniently sitting near him.

"Don't. You. Dare." The look Lucy gave him could have made a small child cry.

Natsu gulped, placing the hot sauce back down.

"So Gray told me you used to hate me," she smirked as she dug her spoon into the rigid ice cream.

"Eh?" he shot her a sideways glance with his spoon in his mouth.

"He said I used to annoy you when we first met." Natsu choked on his ice cream as her browns eyes shone with a mischievous glint at his reaction. "So it's true!"

"Well what do you expect!" he scowled with a blush coloring his cheeks. "You were loud and annoying and weird and you wouldn't leave me alone—and you still are by the way."

"So does that mean you still don't like me?" she teased.

"Nahhh," he beamed, "I got used to your weirdness."

"Likewise," she chortled as Natsu flicked ice cream onto her.

She glared at him as she wiped it off, not bothering to flick any onto him because the last thing she needed was an ice cream fight.

They continued eating peaceful silence, letting Lucy reflect upon the earlier events. She felt so healthy, so well, so _normal,_ that if someone told her she had felt sick during the day, she wouldn't have believed them.

Except the burning sensation from her rash reminded her that this was very much real.

 **XOXOX**

They walked back to the library, not wanting to sleep on the gym floor and settled themselves on the cozy scarlet couches in front of the fireplace in one of the sitting rooms.

"So we are going to sleep in the same room… _together_?" Lucy's heart raced.

"Duh," Natsu looked nonchalant, while nervous sweat dribbled down her forehead.

"But-but-but it's just the two of us…"

"And?" he looked bored as he plopped down on a couch.

"Well you're a boy and I'm a girl…"

"We have sleepovers all the time," he glowered. "I don't get why you're makin' such a big deal."

"Those aren't sleepovers!" Lucy screeched while waving her arms up in the air. "It's you breaking and entering my house and falling asleep on my bed while I'm in the bath! And you're impossible to wake up!"

He cheekily grinned as he curled onto his side.

"Wait a second!" she froze in place. "The door to the gym woke you up…but I'm pretty sure I scream louder than that… Which means…"

Natsu let out a loud snore.

"I KNOW YOU'RE FAKING IT, YOU JERK!"

But Natsu didn't reply.

"So you tricked me into letting you sleep on my bed all those times? Stupid…" she grumbled as she lay gently down on the couch across from him.

And just as sleep began to take over, Lucy could just faintly hear Natsu say, "Gray was wrong. I never hated you. Just wasn't used to someone wanting to be around me…"

 **XOXOX**

Lucy gingerly washed her body, the following morning with her hands scrubbing body wash right over her rash—which had grown significantly bigger, spreading over her ribcage.

She did her best to ignore it, but that was a bit of challenge because how could anyone ignore an itchy, stingy sensation?

It was noon by the time she was finished, having been awake since 11:30. Natsu had still been asleep at the time and she didn't see a reason to wake him.

Dressing in an old army-green skirt with a frail pink tank top, Lucy felt ready for the day—well she would have if it weren't for her the terrible bags underneath her bloodshot eyes. She raised a hand to touch her mirror image and pouted, "So ugly."

With a begrudging groan, she left to go search for the others, but froze outside the cafeteria as she heard her friends talking.

"So, Ash Face," a voice sneered, "where did you and Lucy vanish to last night?"

"Bet he took Bunny Girl to the closet again."

"I doubt he would take her into the closet for a _third time_ ," Levy's light voice chimed in.

"Third time?" Erza asked. "When was the second time?"

"When she had the migraine yesterday," Levy informed her.

"Smart decision, Natsu," Erza commended. "It's nice and dark in there."

"Never thought I would hear someone use the words _smart_ and _Natsu_ in the same sentence," Gray mocked.

"Ghihi," Gajeel's strange laughter resonated.

Something struck Lucy as odd; Natsu hadn't responded at all.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy walked inside.

"Oh hey, Lucy," Gray greeted. "Did Natsu take you into the closet again?"

"Nope," she answered dryly as she walked over to them. She took a seat next to Natsu, who was resting with his head on his arms against the table.

He turned his head slightly to catch a glimpse of Lucy, giving her a weak smile that managed to make her stomach flutter.

"Here," Erza shoved over a plate of pancakes that had been sitting in front of Natsu. "He won't eat, so you might as well."

"Huh?" Lucy dropped her gaze back to Natsu, but he had turned his head away.

"So we were planning on searching the entire school library," Levy said as Lucy started to cut up her food, "for _The Book of E.N.D._ since the library is so old and we _did_ find Zeref's book in there."

"Alright," Lucy said as she struggled to stab a piece of pancake. Her hands were too shaky and her coordination was a bit off so she gave up and ate with her hands, not caring how uncivilized she looked, and besides, her friends didn't seem to mind.

"Mira and Lisanna are going to track down Wendy to see if she has any information," Erza said.

"She _has_ to know something since this is all her fault," Gajeel seethed. "Rotten brat ought to be locked up or something."

"We can't blame her for this, Gajeel," Levy glared with darkened brown eyes. "I highly doubt she's some evil mastermind who planned this."

"Tch," he crossed his bulky arms over his chest.

"What's that supposed to mean?" A vein clearly throbbed on Levy's forehead.

"Anyway," Gray said just as Lucy finished her last bite, "we should probably start looking now."

 **XOXOX**

"Say, Lucy," Natsu asked, "how do you feel today?"

"I feel a hell of a lot better than yesterday," she said as she browsed through the books on the third floor. They had all decided to pair off into groups, Levy and Gajeel took the first floor, Erza and Gray took the second, leaving Lucy and Natsu with the third floor of the library.

"That's good," he murmured. "YOSH!"

"You found it?!" she spun around to see Natsu holding out a shimmering book with a huge, glistening grin on his face.

"Nope!"

Lucy nearly face-planted the floor.

"But look! A golden book!"

" _Daybreak_ ," she read aloud and then turned her nose up and huffed, "Who cares?"

"Aww you're no fun," he mumbled, thrusting the book back onto the shelf.

"I—" her skin turned a sickly green shade as her hand shot up to cup her mouth. She ran as fast as she could to the nearest bathroom, leaving behind a confused Natsu.

"Lucy?" he had followed her into the bathroom just in time to hear her emptying all the contents of her stomach into one of the stalls.

He walked over to the stall she was in, which was the first one, and watched as she heaved over the toilet with her blonde hair as a vail. From watching enough movies, it was almost instinctive for him to go hold her hair back as she continued her hurling.

He felt so helpless watching her suffer and not being able to do anything besides hold her hair back. He could see her tears pouring out of her eyes and who could blame her? Throwing up is always a painful experience.

Tremors wracked through her body, but it finally seemed like she was empty so Natsu let go of her hair.

She continued to dry heave for a couple of minutes before flushing the toilet. She collapsed to the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest. She finally allowed her sobs to break free, crying against her knees.

Natsu sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her quivering shoulder. He gently pulled her against his chest and she complied, burying her face into his scarf and nearly crawling into his lap.

He rested his head against the ugly pink stall wall as he rubbed Lucy's shaky back with circular motions.

And Natsu couldn't help, but wonder if he would get as bad as her, thinking back to how dizzy he had felt earlier…

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Sorry for the boring filler chapter!**

 **No need to worry about any major manga spoilers in this fic for those who were wondering.**

 **And anyway, thank you all so much! You are all very kind :')**

 **Thank you all for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you all for being so sweet! Hope this chapter turned out okay!**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

Natsu wasn't sure how long he sat there holding Lucy, but that didn't matter to him. All that was Lucy.

Sure, it wasn't the most romantic moment ever—sitting on the floor of a gross bathroom stall with a girl who just puked, who was crying into his scarf—his poor scarf…He grimaced as he quickly shoved that thought away. On the bright side, at least she didn't smell like vomit; she smelt like Lucy and Lucy always smells nice—florally and clean.

"Don't tell anyone," she said finally with a hoarse voice, while gripping his scarf with weak fists.

"Eh?" his gaze dropped down to see the top of her shimmery blonde hair as she kept her head down.

She pulled back just enough to look him directly in the eyes, giving him a clear view of her tear-stained face and red-rimmed eyes, "Don't tell anyone I threw up."

"Lucy, I don't think you should keep this a secret—"

"It will just worry everyone," she said bleakly. "What good would that do?"

"Errr…" Natsu scratched his forehead, unsure of what to say. He completely disagreed with her though, but what good would arguing do?

She moved off his lap, and turned away with a soft blush on her cheeks, "Sorry about your scarf…I'll wash it for you—if we ever get out of here! Or maybe we can put it in the dishwasher? Actually the school might have a washing—"

"Lucy, don't worry 'bout it," he beamed, unwrapping his scarf from his neck, careful to avoid the moist part Lucy had left. "You okay now?"

She nodded and announced, "I wanna go shower and brush my teeth." She felt disgusting after vomiting up her breakfast and with her face stained with tears and her body dripping in a cold, clammy sweat, a shower sounded quite delectable.

"Good 'cuz I didn't wanna say anything butttttt you smell…" he beamed.

Her brows furrowed inward, "Rude! Anyway, you can stay here and look for the book…though I doubt it would be in here considering no one knows anything about its whereabouts." She got off the chipping tiled floor and ran a hand down her body to smooth out her clothes.

"Pshhh, you expect me to leave you alone?" Natsu scoffed, standing up. "I ain't letting you out of my sight."

Her heart thudded loudly, "Don't say weird stuff like that." She turned on her heel to leave.

"I didn't say anything weird," he grumbled, following after her, awkwardly holding his soiled scarf.

As they we walked down the spiraled stairs to the second floor, Lucy could see Erza and Gray browsing the library.

"Do you actually think we'll find the book?" Gray asked, with his hands shoved into jean pockets. "I mean if it's never been found…I think we are wasting our time."

"We have to find it," Erza stated scrutinizing the bookshelf.

"It's only been a day though," Gray pointed out. "I'm sure we will be out of here soon. They can't keep us locked in forever and school needs to start back up eventually."

The scarlet haired girl turned sharply to face the boy, "We have to try all we can now, Gray! What if suddenly we wake up too sick to do anything?"

"Erza…"

"And what about Lucy?!"

Lucy sucked in a breath, but continued to watch silently through the rickety railing of the old stairs. Natsu tried to pull her away, to urge her to keep walking down, but she ripped her arm from his grasp.

"She's clearly infected," Erza stated firmly.

Lucy gulped as sadness crumpled over her.

"But she seems okay today," Gray's voice slightly wavered. "And she said she doesn't have a rash or anything." Lucy's hand subconsciously rubbed against her itchy chest. "And shouldn't Natsu be the one who's infected? He's the one with that giant wound on his arm from the glass."

Erza remained silent.

"You don't think she's going to _die_ or somethin', do ya?"

"No one's going to die," Erza said softly. "I will make sure of it. So for now, humor me and search because it's the best we can do while we're trapped in here and hopefully Mira and Lisanna are able to track down Wendy."

"We will be out of here in no time," Gray reassuringly smiled before resuming his search.

Lucy's legs began to wobble back and forth causing her to grasp the railing. Her grip was so tight that her knuckles turned a ghostly white. She was sure that she would have a nice bruise on her palms tomorrow.

It was odd, having heard Gray say, _You don't think she's going to die or somethin'._ It made her wonder, for the first time, was she going to die?

When she had heard that _Faerietailious_ was fatal, it hadn't really hit her that it meant a possibility of someone _actually_ dying… And the fact that her friends were talking about her behind her back...Her hands clenched even tighter around the bleak railing. She felt so stupid as a stray tear escaped her eye.

It was like all her internal, unreadable worries now had a voice and that voice only repeated one word on a loop; _Death._

Someone could die— _she_ could die.

"Lucy," Natsu's soft, tender voice broke through her hysterical thoughts. "Erza's right; no one's going to die." Leaning in close behind her, he carefully pulled away a lock of her hair to reveal her ear. She could feel his warm breath caress her, and as he spoke, his lips lightly brushed her right ear, " _That_ I promise you."

A gasp escaped her lips as goosebumps tickled the back of her neck.

A _promise_ was a pure and romantic commitment to one's words. _Promises_ meant the world to Lucy. It was a concept she valued greatly above anything else with much thanks to her mother. Her mom used to tell her stories about a world of magic and in that world of magic, was a Celestial Mage who _always_ kept her promises. It was what her magic was based on; promises to fight alongside her beloved spirits and to never treat them like weapons.

With this as the anthem to her heart, Lucy made sure to never promise anything, unless she actually meant it.

It was something Lucy had shared with Natsu after he had broken his promise to not read her unfinished novel she had been working on. And ever since then, Natsu never made a promise to her unless he knew he could keep it.

So for him to say no one's going to die, she _almost_ believed him, but of course, promises were meant to be broken.

Natsu released her hair and let it drape back over her ear. Swallowing, she continued her path down the stairs to the first floor.

And she froze in place for what she saw made her eyes bug out of her head.

"Why do you look like that?" Natsu asked as he followed her strange gaze—his jaw smacked the ground within seconds and his eyes bugged out just like his blonde companion's.

The scene in front of them was shocking, to say the least.

Levy pressed against the librarian desk by Gajeel with their lips connected.

"Oh my God…" Lucy murmured, cupping a hand over her gapping mouth.

Levy and Gajeel's hands were frantic as they roamed over each other like desperate lovers.

Natsu could feel sweat trickling down his forehead as he gave Lucy a sideways glance. Her face was a deep shade of a scarlet as she remained in her catatonic state.

Thoughts resurfaced in Natsu's mind as he was splashed with the memory of him—in the closet—with Lucy—and how he _almost_ kissed her—if it weren't for her loud, extraneous freak out that snapped him out of the temporary spell that he _must_ have been under.

But he knew very well that there wasn't a spell…

As he shook his head to rid himself of the memories, a devilish smirk appeared on his lips. His hands cupped around his mouth, getting ready to shout, but suddenly, Lucy reached up and gripped one of his wrists with her petite hand, temporarily distracting him from his mission.

"Don't!" she chided in a whisper like voice.

But Natsu gave her a cheeky smile before yelling, "YOOO, CLOSET 17B IS AVAILABLE IF YOU TWO ARE INTERESTED!"

Gajeel and Levy jerked apart in an instant, both panting with faces blazing crimson. Levy quickly adjusted her ruffled shirt and Gajeel tried to look uncaring as he crossed his arms over his chest, though his laser-red eyes told another story as they stared down the smirking Natsu.

" _Natsuuu_ ," Lucy face-palmed and then she looked up and sheepishly smiled with her hands raised, "We'll be going! Just—just continue on with what you two were uhhh doing! C'mon, stupid!" She hooked Natsu's shirt and tugged him along with her out of the library.

"Uckkk," Natsu grimaced. "That was something I never wanted to see…Did you know?"

"No," she shook her head, "Levy never told me…But this explains why they keep going off alone together…" She still had a heavy blush on her face.

Natsu didn't reply.

 **XOXOX**

Luckily the showers were close to the library as Lucy walked into the locker room and Natsu closely followed, "What are you doing?" her eyes turned icy at the pink haired boy.

"What does it look like?" he scoffed.

"It looks like you're following me into the shower!" her arms flailed about.

"I'm not going _into_ the shower with you, weirdo," he said, leaning against one of the old, faded pink lockers. "I'm just gonna wait here."

"No!" she blushed.

"What?" his head tilted with confusion. "Afraid I'll peek at you or somethin'?"

"Well it wouldn't be the first time," she sweated, thinking of the time he tried to spy through the fence of the hot spring they had went to for a school fieldtrip—or those countless times he had walked in on her when she happened to be changing…

"I ain't gonna peek," he stated and then quickly added, "I promise," knowing very well Lucy would cave in.

"Fine," she exhaled, leaving him as she entered the shower.

It felt nice to no longer be in those sweaty clothes she had thrown up as she once again thoroughly rubbed her skin with body soap.

The hot water felt nice; like a soothing massage as she let it beat down against her back. Lucy watched the soapy water, from her freshly washed body, go down the shower drain. She could picture that soap as all her troubles being drained away, leaving her to feel temporally relaxed.

"Oi, Lucy," Natsu called out.

"Yeah?" she called back, while turning the temperature hotter.

"I was wondering…" he trailed off. "You know how you asked me not to tell anyone about you puking?"

"Yeah?" she stilled under the stream of the newly hotter water as her stomach grew queasy.

"That's the only thing you're hiding from people, right?"

"What do you mean?" she bit her lip tightly, as she gazed down at her disgusting, bumpy rash.

"I mean you're not hiding anything else from us? Or from me at least?"

"Of course not," she nearly choked on her lie thanks to the shower water spilling into her mouth.

"You promise?"

Feeling all the blood drain out of her, she numbly said, "I promise."

"That's a relief!" she could hear the happiness in his voice. "I was worrying about that for a while…"

"Yeah nothing to worry about."

 _I'm so going to hell._

 **XOXOX**

After her shower and brushing her teeth, Lucy thoroughly avoided Natsu.

The guilt consumed her like a fire burning in a forest. It just keeps spreading and spreading and seeing Natsu's goofy grin, she wanted to pull her hair out.

So she hung around Levy—who seemed to be avoiding Gajeel.

The two girls had left to go watch _Netflix_ in the video game club room while Erza and the boys decided to have a wrestling match.

They sat on the loveseat sharing a knitted blanket that was a _Nintendo-_ Mario theme with mushrooms, shells, and stars and even the Mario hat, mustache, and Princess Peach's crown as they watched _Blue Exorcist_ , but Lucy had other things on her mind besides watching anime.

"Say, Levy," she said with a coy grin growing on her face, "When are we going to talk about you and Gajeel?"

"Eep!" Levy squeaked, instantly turning red. "This is so embarrassing…I don't even know where to begin…"

Lucy giggled, "Let's start with when you two started dating."

"Two months ago," the girl cried into her palms.

"TWO MONTHS?!" Lucy wailed with her eyes widening to the size of the moon.

Levy dropped her head in shame, "I know, I know, I'm a terrible friend! I just…I don't know! We meant to tell everyone, but then a month went by and then two…and ahhh I'm sorry! And ahhh I'm so humiliated to be caught _doing_ that! I can't even look at him right now!"

Lucy giggled. "I'm really happy for you, Levy," she said genuinely, patting the small girl's back, "I think you two suit each other."

"Thanks," Levy looked grateful and relieved, but then a glint of nervousness shone in Levy's gentle eyes, "Are you feeling okay, Lucy?"

"I feel great," she beamed, discreetly pushing away all thoughts of throwing up.

"Good," Levy breathed and she was about to say something else, but the door to the club room opened.

"Guess who won the match," Gray's voice rang.

"Erza?" Levy and Lucy answered, popping their heads over the couch to look at the door.

"Yeah," all three boys sulked.

Erza, however, was wearing a proud smile on her lips. "They've gotten better though."

"She's a monster," Natsu whispered to Lucy as he took a seat next to her on the couch's armrest.

"Never again," Gray shivered, plopping to the floor in front of the couch.

"Ughhh," Gajeel plopped down next to Gray.

Lucy and Levy broke out laughing.

"Oi," Natsu glowered, lightly jabbing an elbow at Lucy's ribs. "Don't laugh!"

Lucy only stuck her tongue at him in response.

"What are you guys watching?" Erza asked, pulling a chair over towards the TV.

" _Blue Exorcist_ ," Levy informed them.

"Ooh!" Natsu perked up. "I love this anime. Lucy, scoot over! The armrest is hurting my ass."

"No way!" she glared. "There's only room for two people on this couch!" She waved a hand to point out the lack of space.

"Then let me sit there and you sit on the floor or somethin'."

"No!" she snapped. "I was here first!"

"Fine," Natsu droned. "Guess that leaves me no choice then…" He hopped off the armrest and stood right in front of Lucy with a menacing smile on his face and his pointy eyes gleaming.

Lucy gulped and before she knew it, he reached down and yanked her off the couch by the arm, "WAHH!" And swiftly stole her seat. "NATSU!" she was infuriated with her hands balling into fists by her waist.

"Will you two quit flirting so loudly?" Gray sneered. "It's distracting me from the subtitles."

Together they cried, "WE AREN'T FLIRTING!"

"If you say so…" Gray shrugged.

"Natsu," she moaned with a blush from Gray's comment still on her cheeks, "just gimme back my seat!"

"No," he grinned. "Now move 'cuz you're blocking the screen."

"No!"

"You're annoying," he exhaled before leaning forwards to wrap his arms around her waist.

"Heh?—EEK!" he pulled her against him so that she had no choice but to straddle his lap.

Lucy's heart pounded wildly in her chest, matching her wild eyes that ogled at the boy. Natsu had only let out a short gasp while his face became unreadable.

His warms hands were pressed firmly against her bare thighs, causing her stomach to flutter.

She desperately wanted to avert her gaze, but she couldn't for that his obsidian eyes were hypnotizing. _What is he thinking_?

Levy looked more than uncomfortable as she scooted as far as she could on the small couch and meekly requested, "Can you guys not do that with me sitting right here?"

"Do what?" Natsu stupidly asked.

All eyes were on them.

"Oh my," Erza gasped.

"Eww," Gray shuddered.

Gajeel, however, was smirking, " _Closet 17B is available if you two are interested._ Ghihi."

Lucy's face was blazing while Natsu seemed unaffected as he muttered, "Tch," before he turned Lucy around so that her back was resting against his chest. She was almost positive she could feel his rapid beating heart against her back—and she thought it was beating even faster than _hers._

Maybe he wasn't as unaffected as she thought…

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Ahhh I feel like this chapter sucked. I'm sorry :/**

 **But thank you for reading anyway!**

 **And yay Gajevy!**

 **See you next time! *Hugs***


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10 ALREADY?! WAHHH THANKS FOR THE LOVE AND SUPPORT!**

 **ANYONE ELSE CRYING OVER THE NEW FAIRY TAIL EPISODE? BECAUSE I SURE AS HELL AM WHILE I'M TRYING TO WRITE THIS!**

 **And also sorry this chapter was late! I was busy editing** _ **Virtual Flames**_ **and then I started school this week so everything just got put off!**

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

Natsu's warmth enveloped her like a pit of fire. His hands were circled around her waist, faintly touching the bare skin of where her tight tank top had rode up, causing her skin to ignite.

The pounding in her chest made it impossible for her to relax into him, or to pay attention to what they were watching—speaking of which, what were they watching again?

She blinked blankly at the screen for a couple of minutes, waiting for something to stir, but alas nothing was recognizable for her. It was as though her mind had stopped functioning.

 _Relax_ , she willed herself, as she finally leaned back against Natsu's sturdy chest.

" _Lucy_?" he whispered so lowly, that it sent shivers down her spine.

She breathily whispered back, " _Yeah_ —EEK!" Suddenly, she was suspended into the air. Her eyes snapped closed in preparation to smack the floor, but instead, she landed on a cushion.

"ooOFFF," her cushion moaned. "The hell?"

"NATSU!" she screeched before opening her eyes to see that she was sprawled out on top of Gray's back, with her face buried into his soft, black hair. "EEP! Sorry, Gray!"

"It's alright," he moaned into the floor.

She clambered off of him, blushing furiously, and whipped her head around, " _Natsu!_ "

"Whoops," the pinkette smirked devilishly.

Besides giving Natsu a glare, Lucy decided to ignore him for the rest of the evening. And eventually, she conked out, leaning against Gray's shoulder.

Everyone else, except for Natsu and Gray—who were now playing _Mario Kart 8_ , had fallen asleep minutes after Lucy. Levy, who had joined Gajeel on the floor, leaned against her secret boyfriend, as he, in return, leaned against her, with their backs against the couch as they slept. And Erza looked rather uncomfortable slumped in the seat she was sitting on.

"HAH!" Natsu whooped, raising his wheel-controller up in the air. "You lose again!"

"That's 'cuz I have Lucy leaning against me, idiot."

"So?"

"I can't maneuver the wheel like _this_!" Gray showed how his motions were stiff thanks to Lucy pressing against his right shoulder, hindering his turning radius.

"Excuses, excuses," Natsu smirked, licking his lips. "Now hurry up and pick the next course."

"Get her off me first!"

Natsu's slanted eyes darted down to Gray, who was sitting on the floor right in front of Natsu's spot on the couch. His eyes drifted over to the blonde who was snoozing peacefully against Gray's muscular shoulder, while her arms seemed to have looped around Gray's right arm.

"How do you expect me to that?" he asked, rubbing his forehead.

"She's _your girlfriend_!" Gray seethed. "Just do something!"

"She ain't my girlfriend," Natsu said as he hopped off the couch. "C'mon, Lucyyy." He bent down, trying to unravel her arms from the frosty boy, but Lucy only tightened her hold like a coiling snake.

"She's squeezing!" Gray wheezed. "Really tight—my arm—it's losing circulation."

"Calm down, drama queen," Natsu teased as he wrapped his arms around Lucy's slender waist. "C'mon, Lucy, you don't wanna hold Gray like that—he has cooties." He pulled again with a bit more force.

"Oi!" Gray glared. "Don't go tellin' people that!"

"That's it!" Natsu encouragingly whispered into her ear as he felt her give in to his pull.

"Na…tsuu?" she murmured sleepily, before giving in fully, letting herself be encased by Natsu's warmth.

"Free at last," Gray exhaled with relief, rubbing his tingling-from-lack-of-blood arm. He looked next to him to see Lucy cuddled up in Natsu's lap. "You guys sure do that a lot."

"Not by choice," Natsu sweated, looking a bit disgruntled as he stared down at the annoying blonde.

"Soo…warm," she cooed, cuddling into his chest.

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed and then looked up to see Gray smirking at him. "Oi! Get that ugly look off your face and let's play! I'm still gonna beat you even with Lucy as a distraction!"

"Distraction, huh?" Gray's droopy-blue eyes glinted.

"DISADVANTAGE!" Natsu amended, with his bugging out. "I MEANT _DISADVANTAGE_!"

"Sure, sure."

"IT'S TRUEEE!"

"I never said it wasn't."

"Just shut it!"

" _Mmm_ , _Natsuuu_ ," Lucy purred, with her heated breath seeping through his clothed chest. His heartbeat raced considerably, as he looked down to see a peaceful smile graced upon her lips.

He gulped, "Don't-Don't go sighing my name like that, weirdo!"

"Look who's losing now!" Gray sneered. "Guess you can't handle a disadvantage after all." But Natsu didn't pay attention to a word he had said because the way Lucy was positioned, allowed him to see right down her—"Don't stare at her chest!"

"I wasn't!" A feverish warmth spread throughout Natsu's body like a wildfire, as he struggled to disengage her from his torso, "Just help me get her off!"

"No way."

"BUT I HELPED YOU!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" he deadpanned.

"I HATE YOU!"

"Likewise," Gray chuckled.

 **XOXOX**

Somehow Natsu was able to entangle Lucy from him because when she woke up, she was by herself on top of the couch, with no inclination to what had taken part earlier. Everyone else was asleep on the floor—except for Erza.

Gray and Natsu slept so close to one another; it looked as though they were about to cuddle—since they were facing each other _and_ they were sharing the blanket Lucy had shared with Levy earlier.

Speaking of Levy, Levy and Gajeel were blatantly cuddling. Gajeel had a hefty arm wrapped around Levy's tiny body, cradling her against his chest.

A sly grin appeared on Lucy's face, matching the mischievous glint that radiated in her ever-darkening, brown eyes. She pulled her phone out, readying herself for the ultimate blackmail prank.

She carefully leaned over the couch for the perfect angle. She peered down at her phone screen, hoping to see a misleading photo of Natsu and Gray sleeping together, but instead she gasped.

The camera screen was blurry and shaky.

 _My phone's broken? No way…_

Figuring her best bet would be to exit out of the app and then reenter, Lucy did just that, anticipating that it was only a glitch, but then she gasped again. Her home screen was also shaking, but before she could let out an exasperated groan from the dreaded fact that her phone was broken, she realized it wasn't the screen shaking; it was the phone _itself._

Her blood ran cold as ice through her veins as she observed her quivering hands. Her awareness of the tremors seemed to make things worse, causing her to lose grip on her phone. Ergo, it to hit Natsu directly on his forehead.

"What the!?" His black eyes popped open. Rubbing his forehead, he stared straight up to meet Lucy's gaping expression. He glowered, " _Lucy_! Why'd ya hit me?"

But Lucy didn't respond. Instead, she remained in a catatonic state, staring at her trembling hands that were still clenched as though her phone was still there.

"Lucy?" Natsu sat up straighter, rubbing his sleepy eyes, "What's wrong?"

"Wha—Nothing!" she nervously laughed, snapping out of her daze. She dropped her hands to her lap. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

"Lucy?"

But she already fled the room.

 **XOXOX**

Lucy sat on the shower floor, taking comfort in the hot water. It was the perfect place for her to be by herself, to contemplate what was going on exactly.

All she knew was that she was greatly infected and she was only getting worse.

The shaky hands though… _that broke her_. She _had_ to get out of the room before the tears flooded like broken dam. Last thing she needed was for Natsu to see her crying again.

Nothing could stop the agonizing flashbacks of when her mother had gotten sick—the way her hands had trembled…It was something Lucy never wanted to see again. Her mother couldn't do anything, not even the simplest of tasks, such as drinking a glass of water, without Lucy's sturdy hands to help.

 _What sturdy hands_? She thought bitterly as she wept underneath the downpour of hot water from the shower with her hands shaking as though there were an earthquake.

After gaining some composure, Lucy joined her fellow inmates, who were now eating breakfast in the cafeteria. She felt like an outsider, staring at her friends, who were sitting merrily at the center table as they conversed with one another.

 _They look so happy._ "Why do you guys look so cheerful?" she questioned making her presence known, as she neatly placed her hands behind her back.

"Mira, Lisanna, and Cana found Wendy!" Levy blurted out, looking awfully gleeful with her brown eyes shimmering. "Well, I mean they found her address. They're going to try to visit her today!"

"That's great!" Lucy tried to look genuinely happy as she smiled, she couldn't get it to reach her eyes because the voice in her head decided to whisper, _it's too late_ …

"What's wrong, Lucy?" Erza asked, dropping her fork to her plate, causing a clashing sound that made everyone flinch. "You don't sound as happy."

"I am. It's just that…My hands…" she murmured absently, looking down while shuffling her feet so that they pointed inwards.

"What about 'em?" Gajeel asked, with his red eyes narrowing.

"They won't stop shaking."

Gray paused mid-bite of what looked like a piece of toast. "Shaking?"

She looked up, instantly meeting Natsu's indecipherable eyes. She squirmed a bit as she brought her hands out from behind her back. "See?" She fought the urge to retract her hands as a blush graced her cheeks, making her feel as though she were revealing her bare chest to them all.

"Lucy…" Levy gulped.

"Shit…" Gajeel muttered, looking away.

Gray was gazing down at his own hands and Erza looked like she were in pain with the way her face twisted…

Natsu, however, looked amused. "Sheesh," he jumped out of his seat. "That's why you're makin' such a weird face?"

"Eh?" she ogled, completely thrown off guard by his reaction.

"You really shouldn't go scarin' us with something like that." She remained silently perplexed as he causally strode over to her. "Luckily for you, there's a solution to shaky hands."

"Solution?" she repeated, cocking her head to the side.

Instead of answering, he not-so-gently grabbed both her wrists. Then firmly slid his hands into her palms, creating a surprisingly comforting warmth of friction. "See?" he cheekily grinned. "No more shakiness!"

She sucked in a breath as she stared at her hands in his. They looked so pale and fragile in comparison, but the way Natsu was gripping her, showed that he certainly didn't think she was frail.

He was right; her hands were no longer trembling.

"So all you have to do is keep your hands in mine, got it?" his voice grew low and tender.

Her eyes welled up as she met Natsu's intensely burning, charcoal eyes. _How does he always know the right things to say_?

Blinking a couple of times to fight back the tears that have yet to be spilled, she smiled, "Got it!"

Everyone else remained silent as they bashfully observed the endearing moment between the two.

Though Levy had come up with an actual solution to Lucy's hand tremors. She had realized that it was probably due to low blood sugar and ordered Lucy to eat some fruit—which Lucy had begrudgingly complied, since she didn't have much of an appetite today.

 **XOXOX**

"Why do I have to go swimming?" Lucy sobbed in the hallway as all her friends ran into their appropriate locker rooms.

It was all Gray's fault for suggesting they all go swimming—though Lucy reckoned it had something to do with Juvia—captain of the girl's swim team. Perhaps Gray missed her and the water probably reminded him of her—which was kind of sweet now that she thought about it...

What was rather astonishing was how everyone agreed to go swimming as though it were the best idea they have ever heard and went all gung ho to the lock rooms.

"'Cuz it's fun!" Natsu beamed, pausing at the boy's locker room door to answer Lucy's question. "And it looks like you could use some fun these days!"

She blanched.

"And 'sides, if you don't go in, I'm just gonna throw you in anyways," he grinned.

"RUDE!" she screeched, hugging her arms against her chest.

"Just go change," he ordered, before disappearing into his locker room.

"I'm not changing until I feel the water," she muttered, not wanting to swim in freezing cold water. She followed the overwhelming scent of chlorine into the pool room, which was right in between the gym and the locker rooms.

The pool was rather large and rectangular with a deep end that had a diving board right above it. The water was crystal clear with a teal tint to it.

The chlorine burned her nose, making her head throb a bit as she waltzed over to the water.

She kicked off her ankle boots and dipped her big toe in the calm water, causing mini ripples to form. Surprisingly, it wasn't cold, but rather room temperature.

"No excuse now…" she sighed, pulling her foot out of the water and back on the ledge.

Her head pulsed as she breathed in another deep breath of chlorine. She really needed to get out of there…She turned on her heel to leave, but the world swayed and everything went black.

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Hehe what a great place to end, right? ;)**

 **Anyway, I have some fun stuff planned for the next chapter :'D**

 **And ahh I hope you all liked this chapter!**

 **Thank you so much for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

"Oi, Ash Brains," Gray called out, smirking. "Bet I could race you to the other side of the pool and back!"

"Pshh no way!" Natsu smirked back, walking towards Gray, who was now at the edge of the pool. "You're on, Ice Brains—"

"SHIT!" Gray dove into the water so fast, reminding Natsu of the times the boy used to avoid Juvia.

"What's with him?" Natsu muttered, peering over the edge just in time to see the raven-haired boy pop back up to the surface the middle of the pool with an unconscious Lucy in his arms. "LUCY?!" Natsu's blood ran cold as he gaped at the scene in front of him.

"He-Help me...get her…out!" Gray panted as he struggled to get to the shallow end of the pool.

Natsu jumped in without a second thought, submerging himself in the sickening cool water. His heart was pounding so fast, he thought for sure it was going to burst. If something happened to Lucy…he wouldn't forgive himself. This whole thing was his fault—her getting detention, him leaving her by the pool…

He channeled his anger and frustration into swimming as he raced to Lucy.

She looked so pale, so fragile, with the way her soaked hair draped around her lolling head. It made his heart ache with sheer panic as he wrapped his arm around her seemingly lifeless body.

The water made things too heavy—with her drenched clothes adding what felt like a hundred extra pounds.

Together, Natsu and Gray made it to the shallow end and they were able to carry Lucy's waterlogged body out of the pool. Natsu cupped the back of her head to protect it as they dropped her to the floor.

With both of them on their knees and gasping for breath, they stared helplessly at her unmoving chest.

Gray managed to think of something and that was to place his ear against Lucy's mouth, "She's not breathing!"

"Shit! Go get the others!" Natsu commanded, staring wild-eyed at Lucy serene expression. How could she look so peaceful while he was freaking the hell out.

"Ri-Right!" Gray bolted out of the pool area.

Natsu loomed over Lucy's body, staring up at the CPR poster plastered on the pool walls.

Following the instructions, he placed his hands on the center of her chest, locking his hands over one another and began his compressions.

After thirty times of doing that, she still wasn't breathing.

The next instructions were to tilt her head back, pinch her nose closed, and give the infamous kiss of life.

He did as the instructions said without even a second thought. It was like his mind was on autopilot; unable to fully process what was going on.

Her lips were cold and too yielding as he breathed his warm breath into her empty lungs.

Nothing happened.

He repeated the compression process and then the breaths, but again, nothing happened.

His eyes felt petrified in that wide-eyed state as horror washed over him in waves.

No.

He wasn't going to lose her.

Not like this.

"DAMN IT!" he pounded harder on her chest as tears blurred his vision. Then something struck him; he realized her clothes were heavy thanks to the water, thus, suffocating her.

So using all his brute strength and adrenaline, Natsu ripped her shirt all the way down the middle.

He sucked in a breath.

Not because he just revealed her lacy pink bra, but because of her stomach. Just pure red, standing out like a sore thumb all over her ghostly white skin.

 _A rash._ She lied to him. She broke her promise.

"DAMN IT!" he screamed again, veins popped out everywhere; starting from his hands, the veins seemed to entangle themselves up his arm like a vine as he pounded against her chest once more.

He couldn't even remember his last conversation with her…What was it…Oh right, talking about chucking her into the pool. He wanted to throw up… _Stupid pool._

And then he snapped his lips back onto hers, never taking his eyes off her closed ones.

 _Wake up._

 _Wake up._

 _WAKE UP!_

And finally he heard it—he felt it; a gasp of air escaped her lips as her eyes popped open.

Natsu pulled back just in time for Lucy to cough up a storm as she keeled over onto her side, spouting up tons and tons of water.

The relief he felt was like no other as he collapsed onto his back. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He almost lost her. Just like that…

Shivers overtook his body and water was dripped all over; whether from the pool or just sweat, he couldn't tell.

"Lucy! Natsu! Are you guys alright?!"

Footsteps stormed into the room.

Natsu was too tired to lift his head up—hell, he was too tired to even answer. Not to mention cold—so cold, in fact, goosebumps coated his flesh.

Lucy continued coughing from what Natsu could hear.

"Your chest!" Erza gapped at Lucy.

"Oh shit," Gray ogled at the inflammation.

As though Lucy hadn't heard them, she instead rasped, "Na…tsu?" She was so confused. Why was Natsu's mouth on hers? Why was she spitting up water? Why was she all wet—she sucked in a breath. The truth hit her like a ton of bricks. She had drowned and Natsu had saved her life.

He leaned upwards on his forearms and shot the wheezing girl a cheeky smile. The muscles in his arms quivered before he toppled back to the ground. A sickening noise of his head smacking the tiled floor rang between them all.

Levy flinched while tenderly patting Lucy's drenched hair.

"There goes the rest of his brain cells," Gray commented, looking pitiful as he shook his head.

"He had brain cells?" Gajeel jeered with a wide grin consuming his face.

"Is he okay?" Levy asked, peering over at him. "Natsu?"

Natsu didn't respond.

Erza strolled over and nudged him with her toe, "Natsu?" His body seemed to quiver and shake as he cradled his arms to his chest. "Natsu?!" she glanced over her shoulder and shouted, "He's shaking!"

Lucy shoved away from Levy and crawled towards him. The clothes on her back felt heavy and gave off a chill thanks to them being all wet. Her thighs chafed together, but she paid no attention to her discomforts. Only one thing was on her mind and that was Natsu.

The boy was now curled over, with his damp hair lying flat on his head as he muttered the words, "S-So co-cold."

"Natsu…" Lucy wanted to take him into her lap, but before she could do so, something struck him hard on the head, rendering him unconscious. "ERZA! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?"

"He was suffering," Erza simply said as she bent down and picked Natsu up as though he weighed nothing and tossed him over her shoulder. "Let's take him to the Nurse's Office. He's burning up. Someone stay with Lucy."

Everyone left the room without another word except for Lucy and Levy.

"Lucy?" Levy's voice was small. "Are you okay?"

Lucy dropped her gaze puddled floor, staring at her reflection's pathetic brown eyes.

Natsu saved her life.

And he knows she lied to him.

And now he is sick.

Raw contempt fueled her veins as the disdain for herself grew greatly. She couldn't stand it; she couldn't stand _herself._

A fist shot out and punched her scornful reflection. The sound the floor made when her fist connected with it wasn't pretty. Pain shot up her arm like a lit fuse. An agonizing scream tore out of her lungs as she clutched her injured hand to her chest.

"Lucy!" Levy ran over, wrapping her arms around her. "Don't go punching floors, okay? I know you're worried about Natsu, but don't be! He's going to be just fine. And you need to take it easy, okay? You just went through a lot."

"Okay."

 **XOXOX**

"How is he doing?" Lucy asked, walking into the Nurse's Office.

Gray was the only one in the room, lounging carelessly on the sofa that was across from the bed Natsu was sleeping on.

Gray sat up. "He's uh…" he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

Lucy stood awkwardly, with her hands behind her back. She was still in her damp, ripped clothes with her rash proudly exposed even though Levy tried to get her to change, but Lucy had wanted to see Natsu right away. She shifted her gaze away from the raven haired boy and loomed over Natsu.

He was tucked under a thick periwinkle blanket with a wet cloth plastered on his forehead. His face looked tight with discomfort. His normally spiky hair was still flat from the pool water, but little parts of it began to stick up like rosebuds as it dried.

"His fever is pretty high," Gray said softly. "And he…We um…"

"What is it?" Lucy asked, not taking her eyes off of Natsu.

"We uh took his bandage off," he coughed. "And he uh has a rash…"

"What?" she whirled around to see Gray standing right in front of her with his hands in his pockets and his gaze trained on a random spot on the floor.

He looked up at her with his cool, calming eyes, "It doesn't mean anything though! The bandage could have irritated his arm. And well it's too small to see if it resembles…" he gestured to Lucy's exposed torso.

It felt like time had stopped as a sinking feeling churned within her.

Natsu has a rash.

Did this mean he might die?

" _No,_ " her voice was small and full of disbelief. This couldn't be real…

Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her against a cool chest. "He's going to be fine, Lucy. Natsu will wake up soon and go back to his annoying, stupid self and everything will go back to normal."

Ignoring Gray's words of comfort, she numbly said, "I lied to him."

"Eh?" he pulled back a bit to look at her.

"I lied to him," she repeated, keeping her eyes focused on his plain navy blue t-shirt. "He asked me if I had a rash and I told him no… He probably hates me."

"Lucy," Gray smirked, pushing her away even further. "Natsu could never hate you. Sure he'll probably be annoyed, but he'll never hate you. I think it's impossible for him to. Besides, you guys are even now."

"What do you mean?"

"You lied about the rash; he lied about why he dragged you into Closet 17B."

"What do you mean he lied? He hasn't told me—"

"Lying by omission," he amended as his gaze dropped down to her trembling hands. "There's a solution to shaky hands, you know?"

"Wha—" Gray grabbed her arm and led her over to Natsu's bedside.

He pulled one of Natsu's arm out from under the covers and then grabbed Lucy's hand, "All you gotta do," he placed her hand onto Natsu's, "is keep your hands in his. Remember?" He laced her hand with Natsu's. Natsu's hand felt like he were in a sauna; all clammy, but she didn't care.

A blush coated her cheeks, "I remember."

"Here," Gray pulled a chair over. "Sit here."

"Umm," but before she could say anything, Gray interrupted, "Are you okay, by the way? I mean with almost drowning and the rash…"

"Yeah, I'm okay. And the rash isn't so bad," she smiled, touching her stomach with her free hand. "It itches sometimes, but it could be worse, right?"

"When did you—?"

"I got it on the first day."

"Shit, Lucy," Gray's droopy eyes turned circular. "Why didn't you tell any of us?"

"I didn't want to worry anyone," she slowly sat down in the seat Gray had pulled over.

"I get where you're coming from," he sighed, as he gripped his shirt from the center and began to pull it up.

"GRAY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"What?" he asked as he took his shirt off. "Figured you would want a shirt, unless you wanna stay like that."

Oh right, her entire chest was exposed.

"Thanks," she shoved the shirt on and immediately placed her hand back in Natsu's.

 **XOXOX**

To say Natsu felt like shit when he woke up was a complete understatement. His entire body ached like it never ached before and he had this incessant chill, which was pretty rare for him and despite the chill, he still managed to sweat a lot.

Natsu wasn't one to opt for a shower, but never has he wanted one as badly as he did now. He felt all gross and sticky from sweating so much and he could still smell that sickening scent of chlorine—his hands clenched before realizing he something was _on_ one of his hands—or rather he was _holding_ someone's hand.

"Eh?" he sat up straight and saw Lucy slumbering on his bedside with her head resting on Natsu's mattress with her hand linked with his. "Lucy?"

"She's really worried about you, ya know," Gray said, lying sprawled out on the sofa. "How you feelin', Flame Breath?"

"Like crap," he answered plainly, while keeping his stare on him and Lucy's entwined hands. Hers looked so dainty and pale compared to his, but he could see slight bruising on her knuckles. "Why is she holding my hand?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Gray scoffed, sitting up. "She probably likes you."

Natsu choked at his words.

"Pshhh like that would ever be the case. Anyway, why are you even asking? You guys always do weird couple-stuff."

"We don't do _couple-stuff_ ," Natsu grumbled while peeling the wet cloth off of his forehead.

"If you say so," the icy boy shrugged in a careless manner.

"Oiii, what about you and Juvia. You guys are always doin' weird couple-stuff." Natsu sat in a crisscrossed position.

"Dunno what you're talking about," Gray said smoothly as he stood up, stretched his arms up in the air, and leaned backwards to crack his back.

"Sure," Natsu nodded, pursing his lips. "It's not like you didn't get detention for fighting over her—Oh wait, that's exactly what happened!" he chortled.

"That's funny coming from you," Gray sneered, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes held a hint of mischievousness. "The guy who got detention for locking himself in the infamous make out closet with Lucy. I wonder what you were planning to do in there—that was sarcasm, by the way."

Natsu's eyes grew wild with rage, but before he could bark something back, he felt his hand get squeezed. "Lucy?" his eyes darted down to the blonde whose eyes slowly blinked open.

She stared blankly at him for a minute, capturing Natsu with her hazy brown eyes.

His mouth grew dry as he tried to think of something to say. It was like all the words he ever learned vanished from his vocabulary.

Lucy's murky eyes grew clear and wide as bombarded him with her own words, "How do you feel? Are you okay? Do you still have a fever? Do you need anything? Do you want—"

"Don't ask so many questionnnssss," Natsu closed his eyes and threw his head back.

"Sorry," she squeaked as her face heated as she noticed that he was shirtless…

He opened his right eye just an inch to see her face flushing. His heart stuttered. "To answer one of your questions, I've felt worse—actually that's a lie, I can't remember ever feeling this awful like ever—and speaking of _lies_ ," he looked fully at her with a glare as sharp as a knife.

"I'm sorry," she guiltily let go of Natsu's hand as though it burned her.

Noticing her fearful expression, his tone softened, "So your rash…"

She looked up at him with teary eyes, "I know it was wrong of me and I know I shouldn't have lied. I mean I'm such a hypocrite, breaking my own promise," her eyes snapped closed. "It's just… I didn't want you to worry."

"And I'm not worried." Her eyes snapped back open to see Natsu grinning at her. "So what if you have a rash? It's not a death sentence or somethin'."

"It means I'm infected," she went to hang her head, but Natsu cupped her cheek to stop her.

"So? We are all supposedly infected anyways. And there's still plenty of time to find a cure—and we know that _there is a cure_! So nothin' to worry about!"

She found herself leaning into his gentle touch as his words fluttered all around her.

"Well I'm glad you feel that way," Gray butted in, strolling over to the bed. "Because I have some news for ya."

"Huh?" Natsu let go of Lucy's cheek to her disappointment.

"We took off your bandage," Gray explained, looking pained as he rubbed his left bicep. "And well…we sorta…You have a rash."

Natsu wiped his arm out and stared expressionlessly at the coating of red by his healing wound. "Ehhh who cares," Natsu shrugged, surprising both Gray and Lucy with his nonchalant reaction. Then he narrowed his eyes at Gray, "Pervert! Why are you shirtless?!

"You're shirtless too!" Gray angrily exclaimed.

"Heh?" Natsu looked downwards to see his bare chest. "YOU STRIPPED ME?!"

"YOU WERE ALREADY STRIPPED! YOU'RE IN A BATHING SUIT, IDIOT!"

Natsu slapped both his hands to his cheeks and wailed, "GAHH I FEEL SO VIOLATED!"

Gray turned towards Lucy, "See? Told you he would be back to his annoying self. Now I'm gonna leave before I end up with a headache."

"Good," Natsu stuck his tongue out.

"Natsu," Lucy stood up.

His face faltered, "You're leaving too?"

"No," she said, looking sheepishly at the white floor. "I just…I want to thank you. For saving my life."

"It was nothin'," he beamed and then he chided, "Just don't go doin' that again."

"I don't plan to," she sighed taking a seat next to him on the bed. They were dangerously close, able to feel one another's body heat. She stared at Natsu's swollen lips—swollen from saving her…She blushed, taking in a deep breath as she wistfully added, "It's not fair that I had to have my first kiss while unconscious…" She knew it wasn't a real kiss on technicality, but still, someone else's lips were on hers and that's what a kiss is, right?

"HEH?" Natsu's black eyes nearly popped out of his head. "WHY ARE YOU BRINGING UP KISSING, YOU WEIRDO?"

"BECAUSE YOU KISSED ME!"

"NO I DIDN'T!"

"YOUR LIPS WERE ON TOP OF MINE!"

"BECAUSE THAT'S HOW YOU GIVE CPR, STUPID!"

"YOU MEAN _THE KISS OF LIFE_!"

"STOP CALLING IT A KISS!" his cheeks turned a brilliant shade of pink.

"Would you prefer _snogging_?"

"LIKE HELL! GRRR!" he pulled at his pink locks, "I SHOULD HAVE LET YOU DROWN!"

"Fine, fine," she giggled at his absurdity. "It wasn't a kiss."

He looked relieved as he started to say, "Thank you—"

"But this is..."

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **MUAHAHHAA THAT CLIFFYYY!**

 **And uh oh, Natsu has a rash :0**

 **Hehe thank you all so much for your kind words!**

 **I hope this chapter turned out okay!**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **And I wish you all the best of luck with this new school year!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you all so much for being so kind with your reviews and support! You really know how to make me smile ^_^**

 **AND OMG ANYONE ELSE STILL FREAKING OUT OVER THE NEW FAIRY TAIL CHAPTER?! LIKE I CAN'T GET OVER IT!**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

It was like fire licking his skin when Lucy's fragile lips touched his cheek, leaving Natsu breathless, confused, and frozen.

She pulled back quickly, a light blush coating her face, making it harder for him to swallow that thick lump in his throat.

And it weren't for the lingering, burning sensation, and the fact that his eyes were peeled wide open during it, he wouldn't have believed it had happened.

Now _that_ was a real kiss, not that stupid mouth-to-mouth. He would never consider that a kiss… That was something he never wanted to experience again. Despite her causal teasing about the topic, he was really disturbed by it.

Lucy's eyes slowly opened and Natsu's eyes never wavered, meeting her shy gaze head on. Her blush deepened as she tied her hands into her lap and said, "Thank you for saving me."

The doors barged open before he could think of anything to say.

"Natsu," Erza emerged from the doorway with Gray standing right behind her, with his hands causally in his pockets, "how are you feeling?"

"Like crap," he leisurely linked his hands behind head, pressing against his messy pink tousles with a cheeky smile plastered on his lips.

"Good, good," Erza nodded. "Let me take your temperature." She strolled over to him, her scarlet hair managed to cover one of her concerned eyes completely. She leaned her head in close, imitating what Lucy had only done a few moments prior.

Natsu nearly choked, perspiring at the thought of _Erza_ kissing _him_. He shimmied further back, "Er-Erza, wh-what are you doing?"

But Erza didn't answer, instead, she grabbed Natsu's cheeks to hold him in place and rested her forehead against his. Then she moved her head up and down, rubbing their foreheads together "You still feel very warm. I command you to stay on bedrest."

Gray burst out laughing in the background, panting something along the lines of, "That's not how you check temperature. That was just Natsu's excuse to touch Lu—"

"OI, SHUT UP, GRAY!" Natsu raged on the top of his lungs.

Lucy stifled a laugh, remembering the stupid explanation Natsu had come up with about forehead touches can tell temperature. She was really thankful for the silly distraction. It was managed to ease her stuttering heart thanks to that kiss she had given Natsu. Though Lucy was still unsure why she did it…

But she forced the thought out of her head, and focused on the fact that Natsu was squirming from Erza touching him, while he let Lucy do whatever she wanted to him. The thought made her heart pulse with joy.

"DON'T YELL IN MY FACE, NATSU!" Erza bellowed, raising her fist.

"ACKK!" Natsu fell limply off the bed.

"I don't think you should have hit him," Lucy flinched as she heard Natsu smack the floor with a loud thud.

"S-Same," Gray awkwardly coughed.

"He'll wake up soon," Erza shrugged, picking up Natsu's lifeless body as though he weighed nothing and placed him back onto the bed, next to Lucy.

And then Natsu popped back up with flames blazing from his eyes, "GRRAYYY! THAT BASTARD! LEMME AT HIM!"

"You wake up wanting to hit _me_?!" Gray exclaimed, throwing his arms up in a bewildered manner.

"Na-Natsu!" Lucy grabbed the boy's bulging forearm, "Don't!" With great hesitance, he relaxed into her touch, though his teeth remained gritted.

"No one's hitting anyone," Erza stated, placing her hands on her hips.

"You're one to talk," all three muttered, rubbing the backs of their heads.

"What was that?"

"N-Nothing!" they all stammered, very much afraid of the wrath of Erza.

"Now, Lucy," Erza's menacing eyes grew rather warm, "can I see your rash?"

"Sure," she nodded, rolling up the shirt Gray had given her.

Erza's face remained stern and pensive as she scrutinized every detail.

Natsu leaned over to get a good look, causing Lucy to fit the urge of tugging the shirt back down. It was a nasty thing to look at and to have Natsu stare at it...she blanched.

His slanted eyes narrowed, looking very contemplative, before asking, "How do we know it's not just acne?"

Lucy sputtered before crying out, "WHY WOULD I HAVE ACNE ON MY _STOMACH,_ YOU IDIOT?!"

"OII!" Natsu hand's smacked his ears. "How am I supposed to know why you have acne on your stomach?! I ain't a doctor! And don't yell! I already have a pain-in-the-ass headache! "

"Well then that would mean you have acne on your arm, Natsu," Gray mocked with a teasing grin, "since your right arm matches her stomach."

"WHAT? IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE TO BREAK OUT ON YOUR ARM?!" he roared, looking horrified at the bandage.

"Apparently," Lucy said coolly, dropping her shirt back down.

"Well, Lucy," Erza finally spoke, "it looks you have it the worst."

Sweat dropped down her forehead, "You don't have to be so blatant…"

"Sorry," Erza smiled apologetically. "It's just that Natsu's is very small in comparison."

Lucy sighed, laying her body down on next to Natsu on his bed, "I figured."

"Get your own bed," Natsu glowered, crossing his arms across his naked chest.

"No," she simply said back. "Anyway, where are Levy and Gajeel?"

Natsu puffed out his cheeks and pulled Lucy up and back into a sitting position, while countering her scowl with a mischievous grin of his own.

"They are—" Gray started, but Natsu interrupted, smirking at everyone, "Bet they're kiss—" he froze the second his eyes met Lucy's, who shied away from him, causing his stomach to clench.

"Ki-Kiss?" Erza turned pink with her eyes doubling in size.

"Huh?" Gray asked, scratching his bare chest. "Who's kissing?"

"Not me 'nd Shrimp," a rough voice joined in, "that's for sure. Maybe it's Salamander and Bunny Girl." Gajeel stepped forward with a huge grin.

"NO WAY!" Natsu and Lucy both jumped to opposite sides of the bed.

"They're even in bed together. Ghihihi."

Lucy hugged herself, rubbing her arms, "I really hate the way he laughs."

"Me too," Gray concurred.

"Same," Levy sighed, rubbing her left temple while holding her phone in her free hand. "Anyway, we came here because, well guess who we have on the phone."

She held out her phone to reveal Mira, Lisanna, and a small girl with long, blue pigtails.

"Hi, everyone!" Mira beamed, looking pleasant as always.

"Hi!" Lisanna beamed right after, looking almost identical to her sister. "So good to see all of you!"

"Hi," every muffled back.

"Wendy," Mira said gently, nudging the small girl's arm. "These are our other friends, Lucy, Natsu, Erza, and Gray!"

"Wendy?" Lucy sat up straighter, leaning her head closer to the phone.

The girl's cheeks flushed as she looked down at her feet, "I'm so sorry for what happened! It's all my fault."

"It's not your fault, Wendy," Erza said gently. "It's no one's fault but the schools. But right now, we need your help. Lucy and Natsu are gravely sick—"

" _Gravely_?!" Lucy gasped.

"Don't go throwin' 'round big words," Natsu chastised.

"—and they need help. Is there anything you can do?"

"Umm…" Wendy looked back up at them. Gulping, she said, "All my equipment is at the school. I can't do anything from here."

Erza nodded, "I understand."

"Is the school—or whoever's in charge, making you do any more research?" Lucy asked, sounding hopeful.

"No," Wendy shook her head. "Haven't heard from them."

"So they really are leaving us in here to die," Gajeel ran an agitated hand through his messy locks.

"Looks that way," Gray sighed, leaning against Natsu's bed as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Well not exactly," the camera turned around to reveal a smirking, smoldering brunette. "We have a plan…"

"Cana!" Lucy exclaimed, her face brightening up a bit. Something about Cana's natural carefree attitude made her feel just a teeny bit better.

"Heya, Lucy!"

"A plan?" Natsu tilted his head.

With a wink, she said, "We're gonna sneak Wendy into the school!"

 **XOXOX**

No one seemed pleased with the idea at all as they all sat around the Nurse's Office, looking miserable.

"There's no guarantee Wendy can even cure it," Levy moaned, hugging her knees against her chest. "We can't allow her to risk her life like this."

"We can't allow Cana and Mira and whoever else comes to risk it either," Lucy whimpered, curling up into a ball. Her body shivered and her eyelids felt heavy. It was just too much for her to handle. The idea of her other friends coming into this warzone. She didn't want that.

"Juvia…" Gray breathed lowly, but everyone heard him. Erza wrapped a strong, supporting arm around his shoulder.

That made Lucy feel worse…

She forced her mind to drift elsewhere. And it was funny how simplistic her mind was; all she could think about was the school cafeteria, laughing with her friends over some stupid joke and she lecturing Natsu about not getting his homework done and Natsu would come up with lame excuse and then beg for her lunch. Then he and Gray would get into a fight and Erza would end it with a bang. The memories were mundane, but for some reason they made her happy.

"Why do you all have to be such downers?" Natsu asked. "We still have a chance!"

"Yeah," Gajeel nodded, standing up from the floor, "you're right. As long as we keep you two away from us."

"Heh?" Natsu blinked, looking mildly confused as he leered, "Whatchu talking 'bout?"

"You and Bunny Girl," Gajeel clarified. "She was infected first and then suddenly you got infected. Can't be a coincidence. You guys probably hooked up in that closet."

Natsu's jaws both fell open, surprised by the crude vulgarity of Gajeel's implication. " _Gajeel_!" A vein popped out on his forehead to emphasize his seething anger.

" _GAJEEL!_ " Levy looked utterly aghast, "That crossed a line!"

"What?" his red eyes stared at Natsu's snarling face, "Don't pretend we all aren't thinkin' it! If we keep hanging around them, we'll all get worse too!"

"Then get out," Natsu said hotly. "And if anyone else feels that way, get out also."

"Look, Flame Head" Gray said calmly, "no one thinks you and Lucy hooked up, because honestly, who would hook up with you?"

"Exactly—OI!" Natsu's nostrils flared. "Can't you all leave already?! I don't feel well as it is. I'm probably contagious anyways."

"Gladly," Gajeel snapped. "C'mon, Shrimp."

"But, Lucy—"

"She's asleep," Natsu stated, looking down at the snoozing blonde. He felt envious. Wishing he could sleep off this terrible conversation.

"Oh," Levy frowned, allowing Gajeel to pull her out the door.

"We'll check on you in an hour. Get some rest, Natsu," Erza said with a small smile on her face.

With a heavy sigh, Gray said, "And of course I get stuck carrying Lucy."

"Nah, you can leave her," Natsu said, sounding lethargic.

Gray raised a skeptical brow, "Thought you wanted everyone to leave."

"Lucy's always an exception," was all he said, before grasping the sides of his head and groaning, "UGHH WHY WON'T THIS HEADACHE GO AWAY?!"

" _Shit!_ Natsu!" Gray raced over and placed the back of his hand against Natsu's clammy forehead. "You're burning up!"

Natsu twisted onto his stomach, burying his face against the pillow. His hands knotted the blanket into fists as he let out a muffled scream of agony.

"NATSU!" Gray panicked. "I'll go get—"

" _Ice_ ," Natsu rasped. "Just need ice." Gray quickly pulled out an icepack and handed it to the withering boy, who greatly accepted it and wailed, "GAHH EVERYTHING FUCKING HURTS."

"Just-Just try and think of something that'll distract you from the pain!" Gray urged.

"LIKE WHAT?"

"Like something good—something that made you happy!"

"ARGGG!" he cried.

"LIKE KICKING MY ASS OR GAJEEL'S!"

"Heheh," Natsu gave him a painful smile. "I always kick…both your …asses…"

"Pshhh," Gray smirked, glad that Natsu seemed much better as he watched the boy's slanted eyes slowly shut. "You better pull through, you bastard."

"'Course I will…" Natsu sleepily murmured. "Got lots of things I need to do..."

"Like _actually_ kicking my ass for once?" Gray teased.

" _Nahh_ ," his voice grew weak as he mumbled incoherently, "… _fessing_ … _Lucy_ …"

"HEHH?!" Gray's droopy eyes turned circular. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"

No response.

"NATSU!?"

Natsu let out a huge snore.

"Bastard!" _Confessing to Lucy?_ Gray shook his head, "No way did he say _that_ …"

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Hehe sorry for only the kiss on the check ;) but ahhhh Natsu wants to confess to Lucy? And other people are gonna attempt to break into the school?!**

 **And thank you so much for reading!**

 **Hope this chapter turned out okay!**

 **And I wrote two OneShots,** _ **Tattoos of the Soul**_ **and** _ **Closet Snogging**_ **for anyway who is interested in reading!**

 **Whelps, I hope you all have an amazing week! :'D**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hehe, sorry for the wait! I got sick/still am sick and writing about sick people didn't appeal much to me T_T but now I'm ready to write again!**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

"Say, Natsu," Lucy mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"I feel like crap."

"Same."

They were both lying on their sides, facing their backs towards each other. Unable to turn even an inch due to their lack of energy, which also made talking an effortful task.

There was a persistent ache in Lucy's stomach and her mouth felt desert dry, but the thought of drinking made her gag and all she could think was, "I wanna die."

"Don't say that," Natsu chided weakly.

"Why not?" she muttered dryly. "We're going to die anyway. Might as well accept it."

"Oi, I ain't dying in here and neither are you nor is anyone else." Natsu spat and with all the strength he could muster, he rolled over onto his other side, facing Lucy's back.

She remained silent so he decided to continue talking while staring at the brittle strands of her frazzled, blonde hair, "You gotta think of something that will make you wanna live—or at least that's what my dad used to tell me."

That got Lucy to respond; her body flinched. Natsu rarely ever mentions his father, something Lucy had come to learn as their friendship developed. "What makes you want to live?'

"The future," he simply answered as though it were the, be all and end all of answers. Lucy finally flipped herself over to face him. He weakly smiled at her and she returned the weak smile and teased, "That's a lame answer."

"How was that lame?!" he exclaimed with the sudden burst of energy he had received from Lucy's jeer.

"I don't know," she mused, rolling onto her back. "Just sounds cliché. Maybe try to be more specific?"

Natsu rolled his eyes, "What is this? A short answer question on an exam?"

"Well we are in school," she bantered.

"Well what specifics make you want to live?" he challenged.

"Hmm," she pursed her lips in wonder, gazing up at the florescent lights. What makes her want to live? Well that was a given, "You."

Natsu's eyes grew circular as he let out a sputtering noise, "Wh-What are you saying—"

"And Levy and Gray and Erza…" Lucy proceeded on, listing people off as she counted the tiles on the ceiling.

"…So that's what you were saying." Natsu rolled over onto his back, trying to ignore the feeling of disappointment that was knotting his stomach.

"Huh?"

"I like your answer," he grinned. "Gonna steal it the next time someone asks me."

"Hey!" Lucy furrowed. "You can't steal mine. You have to stick your lame 'future' answer."

"Oi, quit calling it lame!" he chastised. "It's ominous!"

"It's ambiguous," she muttered.

"Tch," he scoffed, crossing his arms over his naked chest. "Still copying your answer."

A smug grin crossed Lucy's face, "If your answer wasn't lame, then why are you copying _mine_?"

"Becausee I always copy off of you," he beamed. "Why stop now?"

"I don't know what I expected…" she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Ughhh," he groaned suddenly. "Can't wait to get out of here. Can't believe it's been like four days since we have last been outside… I miss it."

"I really miss my bathtub," she nostalgically groaned back, thinking about how desperately she wanted to soak in a tub of scorching hot water to soothe the pain she was in.

"I miss your bed."

"Of course you do…" Lucy's eyes narrowed and to be honest, her expression softened as she thought more of home besides her bathtub and her bed. She missed…she missed her father. Even though he was a terribly busy, unloving man, who argued with her nonstop, she missed him and she—

"I miss Happy," Natsu pouted, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Happy?!" she sat up instantly. Natsu lived alone so that meant poor little Happy, Natsu's peculiar blue cat, was left to fend on its own? "He's all by himself?! Is he going to be alright?"

"Huh?" Natsu sat up also and looked at her. She could see his forehead creasing through the gaps in his bangs, "Happy ain't alone."

"He's not?"

"Nope," he grinned, "Lisanna's watching him! I texted her the night we got stuck here."

"Oh."

"Figured she would be the best person to take care of Happy," he said, "since we found him and raised him together. Plus she has a spare key to my place."

Hurt and uneasiness bubbled inside Lucy's stomach and it wasn't from the virus. She felt stupid for being bothered by Natsu and Lisanna's friendship. It wasn't like they were ever that close, but they knew each other for years—years that Lucy had missed out on. She did her best to smile, while toying with a few mousy strands of hair, "Right! No one is better for the role."

"Not exactly," he furrowed, pursing his lips. "It's just that you're trapped in here with me so Lisanna's the only other person I can ask. Bet Happy's givin' her hell."

"Why would Happy give her hell?" Lucy wondered. He was generally a well behaved cat besides those minor times he scratched her.

Natsu shrugged, scratching his bandaged forearm, "He doesn't like anyone who isn't me or you." His words left a fluttering sensation inside her chest.

"Ughh, I'm so damn itchy!" he continued scratching, peering over at her with snooping eyes. "Does your rash itch?"

"No—Don't scratch it!" she smacked at his hand away from his arm.

"Oiii," Natsu moved away from her. "Don't hit me! It's really itchy! How the hell am I supposed to not scratch it?" He carried on with his itching.

"Scratching's bad, dumbass!" she glowered, as she held her hand out, prepared to smack him again.

"How could something that feels this good be bad?" he smirked just as he dodged Lucy's incoming slap.

"Itching it will make it spread!" she chastised.

"Then let it spread," he grinned, holding his arm out to itch it right in front of her just to purposely piss her off. There was something about the way her eyes brown eyes darkened with contempt and the way her lips puckered out that made it fun for him to tease her.

"Naatsuuu," she glared, rage radiating off her like heat from the sun, "stop!"

"Make me," he stuck his tongue out and let the sounds of his scratching fill the silence.

"Fine!" and with that as her only warning, Lucy attacked.

"LU—"

"I SAID STOPP!" she growled as she threw her body flush against his, making fall flat against the bed. She pinned his arms above his head by the wrists.

"LU-LUCY!" Natsu struggled against her, flailing around like fish on land, trying to get her off of him. "GE-GET OFF ME!"

"Nooo," she slammed her hips down against his in a desperate attempt to halt his movements, but Natsu failed to realize as he ground his hip right into her.

Both of them froze, inhaling harshly they stared wide-eyed at each other.

A blush mirrored onto each other's cheeks.

Natsu was staring at her with such awing curiosity, while Lucy glanced downwards, noticing that her groin was connected to his and the way she was pinning him down...

 **XOXOX**

"Natsu's gonna confess to Lucy?!" Levy gushed, cupping her hands over her cheeks. "That's so romantic!"

"How is that romantic?" Gajeel scoffed, as he angrily pressed the _B_ button on the video game controller, "You don't even know how he's gonna do it. Knowing Salamander it's probably gonna be as unromantic as possible."

"I don't know about that," Erza mused with a tiny smile gracing her lips, "Natsu's different with her."

"True," Gray muttered, thinking back to the handholding ordeal as he punched Gajeel's character in _Super Smash Bros_.

"Tch," Gajeel huffed. "I still think they hooked up."

"What do you mean by _hooked up_?" Levy asked, leering at Gajeel with a look that could kill.

"It means whatever you want it to mean," he smirked with his gaze focused on the TV. "Just the only thing that makes sense. Why else do they both have rashes while we are all fine? 'Cuz they got together."

Gray choked, nearly dropping the game controller, "You think they—"

"E-Enough talking about this," Erza cut in with her cheeks burning a bright shade of scarlet to match her hair. "Natsu and Lucy may have… _that_ kind of-of re-relationship," she stuttered. "But-but-but—"

"I think we broke her," Gajeel laughed, pausing the game so he could look at the sputtering girl.

"Aye…" Gray agreed, eyeing Erza like she was some kind of foreign creature.

"So we are all assuming they…" Levy trailed off with sweat dripping on her forehead.

"Aye," everyone said.

"Lu-chan's so brave," Levy shuddered. "And now Natsu wants to make them official? So romantic!"

"Still don't see how it's romantic…" Gajeel grunted.

"C-Come on," Gray stammered with a shaky grin. "This is Natsu and Lucy we are talking about. Those two wouldn't know what to do even if you gave them an instruction manual."

"May-Maybe we should go visit them," Erza suggested. "To-To make sure they're-they're keeping it _safe_."

"Still don't think they're together," Gray grumbled, though a light shade of red colored his pale cheeks.

 **XOXOX**

A part of Lucy said to move, but another part of her was captured by the strange glint in Natsu's eyes. It was something she had never seen before. Something that made her want to do _something_ , but she didn't know what that _something_ was.

"…Lucy?" he breathed lowly, her eyes drifted down to his neck just in time to watch his Adams apple bounce up and down.

"I WAS RIGHT!" someone gasped. "I KNEW THEY WERE— _ACKK_ "

" _GAJEEL!"_ A menacing voice gritted. "DON'T INTERRUPT THEM!"

Lucy and Natsu's heads flew towards the door to see everyone, except Gajeel who was rubbing his sore head, gapping at them and then shamefully looking away.

" _KYYAAAA!"_ Lucy screeched as though she were about to be murdered and tumbled right onto the floor in hurrying efforts to get off of Natsu.

She could just make out Natsu's loud, shaky exhale.

"So-Sorry for bar-barging in!" Erza hung her head, looking shameful for her actions, "We-We'll be leaving you two to…to carry on!" She headed out the door. " _C'mon_ ," she beckoned everyone to follow.

"NOO!" Lucy wailed, clambering off the floor into a wobbly standing position. "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK! I WAS JUST TRYING TO RESTRAIN HIM!"

Everyone choked out, " _Kinky_."

"NOOO," Lucy sobbed, throwing her head back while racking her frustrated hands through her messy hair. "He kept scratching his rash! So I had to stop him!"

"With physical force," Gray and Gajeel sniggered, fist bumping in the process.

"NATSUUU!" Lucy whined, looking at the boy for help, but he seemed indifferent to the matter as he nonchalantly locked his hands behind his head. "Whatever…" she grumbled. "I need a glass of water."

"I'll go follow her," Levy said, following after the wavering blonde.

 **XOXOX**

Lucy hurled into a trashcan as Levy held back her blonde hair and said calmly, "It's okay, Lucy. The water's probably too heavy on your stomach."

"But I'm so thirty!" Lucy grossly sobbed, tears leaking out of her eyes like a water fountain. "I hate this!"

"I know…" Levy said gently, holding out Lucy's scornful bottle of water. "Try taking small sips maybe?"

Lucy complied, taking only two sips, enough to wet her mouth, but not enough to satisfy the thirst.

"Better?" the tiny girl asked.

"Much," Lucy smiled, wiping the tears out of her with the back of her forearm.

"You know what?" Levy said, a devious smirk played onto her thin lips, "I wasn't going to tell you this…but seeing how upset you are, I think you could use some cheering up."

"What?" Lucy sniffled, her eyes narrowed skeptically. What good news could Levy possibly have? Was there a cure of some sorts?

"Well you see," her caramel eyes shifted side-to-side as if she were nervous someone would overhear. That struck Lucy as odd, putting her a bit on edge in anticipation. "Natsu's going to confess to you!"

"Say what now?"

"Natsu's gonna confess!"

"EHHHHHHH?!" she screamed with her eyes doubling in size. "WH-WHY WOULD HE DO SUCH A THING?!"

Levy frowned with her forehead creasing in confusion, "What? You don't want Natsu to confess to you?"

"I-I DON'T KNOW!" she wailed, leaning her back on a locker, "IT'S JUST— _OUR FRIENDSHIP_! WHAT IS HE THINKING?!"

"Probably that he likes you?" Levy giggled.

"DON'T SAYY THATTT!" Lucy moaned, sliding down the locker, onto the floor. She hugged her knees to her chest.

Someone loomed over her, but she didn't look up, assuming that it was Levy, but boy did she assume wrong. "Oi, Lucy, how do you have enough energy to be so annoying with your screaming?"

"GAHH!" her head jolted upwards to meet Natsu's cheeky smirk. "Na-Natsu!" Her heart instantly started up, making her feel all jittery with raw nerves.

He was finally wearing a shirt now and his hair looked damp, leaving Lucy with the impression he just showered.

Natsu dropped down to the floor next to her and said, "Levy, can you leave me and Lucy alone for a sec?"

"S-Sure!" Levy squealed, looking way too giddy for Lucy's taste.

"N-No!" Lucy protested. "Levy can stay!"

"She can't," he argued.

"She can!"

"She can't!"

"She can!"

"She can't!"

"She—"

"She left," Natsu cut in.

"NO!" she desperately searched around for her pixie-like friend, but Natsu was right, Levy was nowhere in sight. "How could she do this to me?!"

"Are you done being annoying?" Natsu grumbled, scratching his neck.

"Don't call me annoying," Lucy blanched. Was this really the boy who is about to confess to her? Suddenly she felt like she was on a roller coaster. Her stomach was clenching so much, like one of those deep drops. "I—I think—I should probably—"

"Lucy," Natsu said, gazing at her with such warmth it made her heart pulse. "I—"

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Muahahhaha what's Natsu going to say? Hmmm?**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

 **Sorry again!**

 **You are all amazing and I wish you an amazing rest of the week!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay so people are still threatening/claiming that they have reposted my stuff (they left a recent review on VF stating so) But umm idk I can't find anything anywhere, so I guess I'll carry on.**

 **But I ask if you still remain on the look out for me.**

 **And sorry for the late update. My writing motivation has been low, but I'm trying to get it back up again.**

 **Made this chapter longer than usual to make up for it! :')**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

"Lucy," Natsu said, gazing at her with such warmth it made her heart pulse. "I—I have somethin' I need to tell you. I wanna c—"

Was this really going to happen? Did she even _like_ Natsu _in that way_? What about their group of friends? How would the react? Could their friendship survive? If they broke up would that ruin everything for them? Was everything already ruined?

Well Lucy felt ruined with the way her body was deteriorating, noting that she had lost a considerable amount of weight the past few days. Weight that she did not want to lose in the first place.

And there was something else ruining the moment. A simple question, _Why?_ Was it the desperation of their situation that made him want to confess all of a sudden? She clutched a hand over her lower abdomen, just the very thought of it didn't sink well in Lucy's already-queasy-stomach. If Natsu were going to confess, she wanted it to be because he wants to, not because he thinks they're dying.

She had to stop him. "Na-Natsu!" she interjected, holding her hand to signal him to yield. He keenly obeyed with a disgruntled look etched onto his face. She gulped, almost losing nerve with the way his black eyes bore into hers, "Le-Leave!"

Natsu's pink brows furrowed inwards and his nose crinkled in a cute way that made Lucy's heart nearly melt. "Heh? But I have somethin—"

"LEAVE!"

He flinched back, holding his arm up as shield, gawking at her with frightful eyes. "Wh-What's with you?" he asked with a trembling voice.

"Nothing! Just-Just leave!" she stammered, feeling the back of her neck start to perspire. What if she was overreacting? The way Natsu was looking at her, it was more annoyance rather than heartbreak…Now she felt like an idiot. How could she possibly think Natsu was going to confess—

"I'll leave after I confess."

Her heart stopped.

 _Confess._

He said it.

So she wasn't overreacting…Natsu _actually likes_ her. "N-No."

" _No_ what?" he grunted as he excessively scratched the back of his ear reminding Lucy of some cute puppy.

 _Nooo_! She clutched a hand over her chest. It was beating so fast—faster than it had ever before. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say? Should she reject him?

"I—"

"Lucy," he leaned closer, grasping her by the shoulders. "There's something I wanna tell you—that I shoulda told you a while ago." His unwavering black eyes looked momentous.

Natsu reached out, gripping Lucy by her shoulders to hold her in place, she couldn't help but notice how light his hold was.

Lucy felt like she was on a merry-go-round with the way her head was spinning—so fast, in fact, she was starting to feel a little—she bolted off the floor, and upchucked the rest of her stomach contents into the waste basket.

"LUCY—ERGGH."

Still hunched over the trashcan, Lucy peered behind her to see—for only a split second—Natsu clutching his head, looking in a hell of pain. The moment he caught her looking, he put on a gallant face and grinned, "Finish up. I wanna confess—"

And Lucy gladly went back to her can.

 **XOXOX**

After Lucy finally finished up emptying her stomach, she raced off to go brush her teeth, leaving an exasperated Natsu behind.

And just as she thought the coast was clear, she tried to sneak out of the bathroom and get back to the others, but of course, a hand grabbed her arm and Lucy froze. Natsu hissed into her ear, "What's with you?"

"Nothing's with me."

"Then why are you actin' like you're mad at me again?" he asked, looking impatient, puffing out air that managed to ruffle up his flat bangs.

"Because you're being selfish!"

"How am I being selfish?" He dropped his hold on her hand and gave her a glare that would make the sun want to hide under the clouds. "I just wanna tell you—"

She slapped her hands over her ears and chanted, "LA-LA-LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

That seemed to really tick Natsu off. She almost squeaked when she saw the veins popping out of his forehead as he growled, "Seriously?! And people call _me_ the childish one?!"

His blazing, warm hands seized her own, plying them from her ears. Then he smashed her body back against the wall, while leading her hands in a surprisingly gentle manner back to her hips, "Stop doing that."

Not a space was between them.

Lucy's face was burning up quickly at the realization. She wanted to move away from his scrutinizing gaze, but Natsu wasn't having it. He seemed unaffected by their position as he asked with clenched teeth, "What's with you? Just let me talk!"

She hung her head, allowing Natsu's bangs to mingle with her own, "I'm scared."

"Scared of what?"

"How things will change after you…" she swallowed that large lump of fears and anxieties that seemed to have built up in her throat.

"Why does anything have to change?" he asked with a slight head tilt. The anger he had been emitting had long faded, replaced by a strange mangled look.

Her breath caught. _Why does anything have to change_? Was she being silly over this whole ordeal, making a big deal out of nothing?

But Lucy was saved from giving Natsu an answer when Erza appeared out of nowhere and boomed out, "What are you two doing?" Her dark eyes flickering between the two. " _Natsu, are you forcing Lucy—"_

"NO WAY!" he instantly let go of Lucy, taking a big side step away from the girl as if she smelled badly. "Like I would wanna do anything to her."

Lucy leered at the now-blushing Natsu and tightly muttered, "Says the boy who was _literally_ _about to_ _confess_."

Natsu turned to face Lucy with his slanted squinted and his brows pulled in tightly, he said, "What are you—"

Swift as a sword, Erza's voice sliced right through Natsu's. " _Enough_."

He jolted pin straight and stuttered out, "A-Aye."

Erza's fierce glory soon vanished, replaced by an odd air. She audibly gulped, rubbing her arms up and down as if she were trying to warm herself up. "Something—Something umm," she ran one of her hands through her scarlet bangs, shoving them upwards, revealing her normally hidden eye. "Something…"

Her eyes that were fueled with passion no more than a few moments ago now seemed vacant as she stumbled over the word _something_ over and over again.

"Erza?" Lucy squeaked, eyeing the redhead with great concern as she unconsciously touched her lips, "Are you okay?"

But Erza didn't answer; instead, she swayed before falling backwards. Like a bow and arrow, Natsu dashed out just in time to break the girl's fall, capturing her in his arms. "Erza!"

No response.

"Oh no," Lucy muttered under her breath as she watched the scene unfold with her unblinking, large eyes. A chill ran through her body accompanied by an icy fear as she watched Natsu struggle to keep Erza up. He settled for holding her bridal style with the girl's head lolling back. He jostled her unconscious body and screamed, "Erza!"

But again, no response.

And he quickly turned on his heel to bring her back to the Nurse's Office, Lucy presumed as she chased after them.

Lucy felt like she were running on sand as she lagged far behind from Natsu. She was so out of breath and her head wanted to implode again.

But she didn't matter right now, she needed to make sure Erza was going to be okay. So

Though from the way Natsu's arm was quivering, Lucy could tell he too was struggling.

 **XOXOX**

"GUYS," Natsu yelped as he kicked open the door. He started to wobble so Lucy acted fast, wrapping her arms around him to help steady him. "Thanks," he gave her one of his trademark grins and she could have sworn her heart had melted.

"Oh finally you two are here!" Gajeel came out. His red eyes looked feral and his hair was all matted, "Levy— _shit!_ What's wrong with Erza?!"

"She passed out," Natsu said. "We need to lay her down!" He ran over to the bed that now had a curtain wrapped around it and exclaimed, " _LEVY?!_ "

"What?" Lucy slowly followed and she gasped.

Levy was laying in the bed with her hair and forehead drenched in sweat. There were tears leaking from her tightly sealed eyes. She thrashed around, muttering, "It…hurts…"

Gajeel jumped to her bedside and frantically grabbed one of her tiny hands, "Levy! Levy!"

But Levy only let out a small whimper, reminding Lucy of a wounded animal. And Lucy had to swallow back her tears.

"I need to put Erza down," Natsu announced. Lucy snapped her gaze back to him. His arms were starting to cave.

"There are more beds," Gajeel grunted. "We found more—behind that door. This place mighta been some kinda old hospital or somethin' or that's what Levy was sayin'…before… _shit…_ " Gajeel buried his head against the mattress of Levy's bed.

Every time Gajeel said _Levy,_ it felt like a knife was stabbing at her chest. Gajeel _never_ calls Levy, _Levy_. Always Shrimp or something of the like…So for him to call her tiny friend by her real name…A stray tear dribbled out of Lucy's right eye.

And Gray appeared, fully clothed in a midnight blue sweater and jeans, gawking at Natsu carrying Erza. "What happened?!"

But Natsu didn't answer. He had left to put Erza down and Gray followed right after.

 **XOXOX**

The two boys sat in silence for who knows how long. It felts like hours had passed by, but to be completely fair it had only been a couple of minutes. Time had become nothing but an illusion these past few days.

There was nothing to look forward to.

"Can't believe this…" Gray muttered, shaking his head out incredulity. Erza was supposed to be the strong one, not…not _this_. He looked away, eyeing Natsu who was sitting so still he might as well have been a statue.

The air was so thick—not something that normally occurred with Natsu around. It made Gray shiver with uneasiness. Maybe a light conversation would be the best thing to do in this situation…

"So what did Lucy say?" Gray asked, giving Natsu a quick glance.

"Hmm?"

"When you confessed?"

"Ahh," the boy turned towards Gray and sheepishly itched the back of his head while rocking back in the chair, "I never got a chance to. She wouldn't let me and then Erza happened..." His dark eyes shifted back over to the bed.

"Yeah Erza wanted to tell you guys about Levy," Gray mentioned, spreading his legs out further, trying to relax. "Figured you woulda confessed already though."

"I tried!" Natsu argued, suddenly getting very animated as he leaned forwards and said, "She called me selfish and stuff AND THEN SHE THREW UP!"

"Oi, oi," Gray sweat dropped, looking away from the steaming boy. Maybe Lucy really wasn't interested in Natsu after all…

"I don't get it," Natsu sighed, allowing his anger to simmer down as he rubbed at his tired eyes. "She kept beggin' for me to tell her and now when I finally try to, she acts like a weirdo."

Gray's droopy eyes bugged out as he jerked his head back to meet Natsu's bitter eyes, "Lu-Lucy was _begging for you to confess_?!"

"Yeah!" Natsu said, nodding his head vigorously. "Ugh I don't get her. She was all mad at me, remember? 'Cuz I wouldn't confess to—"

" _THAT'S WHY_ LUCY WAS MAD AT YOU?!" Gray yelped, bolting out of his seat like it had zapped him.

Lucy was mad because Natsu wouldn't confess to her?

This had to be an alternate universe…

"Yeah," Natsu's brows furrowed and his forehead creased, "I thought you knew that."

"NO I DID NOT!" Gray pressed his palm against his forehead. "Damn so first I found out Gajeel and Levy are dating and now I find out Lucy's been begging you to confess! I need to go for a walk…"

"Don't get why you're making a big deal over this either," Natsu leered with his cheeks puffing up like a blowfish.

"How can I not make a big deal?" Gray muttered under his breath. "What made you decide now to confess?"

"Well I figured there's no point in me denying her any longer."

"WHAT?!"

"I mean she has the right to know why I dragged her into the closet that day."

" _WAIT_! THAT'S WHAT YOU MEANT?!" And Gray collapsed to the floor in utter defeat. Of course Natsu would be talking about something entirely different. So in a last attempt to salvage whatever was left of this conversation, Gray asked, "So why did you drag her into the closet."

"Psh like I'm gonna tell you," Natsu snigged, rubbing his index finger under his nose.

"I'm so out of here…"

 **XOXOX**

After Gray had left Erza's room, looking very disgruntled as he ran out muttering something about the universe being out of whack, she decided to go in and visit.

Besides, she was starting to feel a bit awkward with the way Gajeel was cradling Levy, trying to stifle her moans of pain. It was such an intimate moment, a moment that Lucy knew she shouldn't third wheel upon, so she left.

The air to the room was gloomy as Lucy gazed upon Natsu who looked deep in thought. Erza looked peaceful in bed, unlike Levy, who looked as though she were suffering greatly.

At least they both weren't in pain…

"Erza," Natsu, sat by her bedside with his hand resting on his hand.

"She will be okay," Lucy said, making her presence known, but judging from the lack of reaction from Natsu, maybe he already knew she was there. She took a seat next to the concentrating boy.

"'Course she will be," he said, looking at Lucy from the corner of his pointed eyes with a small grin on his face. "She's Erza."

"Right," Lucy nodded back, finding Natsu's slight grin to be contagious.

"Ahh, man," he scratched at his mop of pink hair. "It's so weird seein' Erza like this. She's not supposed to look so…" he trailed, rubbing even harder.

"Vulnerable?" Lucy offered with a frown curling onto her lips.

He silently nodded, twitching his hand that was resting on his thigh.

It was almost like there was a string tied to both of their hands, calling for her to grasp it. But she fought against the tug because how could she just _hold_ Natsu's hand? That would just be awkward, right?

But then again, he held hers plenty of times—probably without a second thought. So how hard could it be?

And she let the invisible string lure her in, guiding her hand over to Natsu's and placing it right over his. He was warm to the touch, allowing Lucy to take brief comfort as her heart anxiously raced to see if he would reject her.

His head darted downwards, staring at her light hand over his tanned one for only a few seconds, before picking his head back up, seeming to be okay with it.

She let out a small anxious breath.

"How's Levy?" Natsu asked quietly, still keeping his eyes focused on Erza.

"She's…" Lucy bit her lip and dropped her gaze to her lap, clenching the hand that wasn't on top of Natsu's as tears suddenly sprung up. Her mind flashed to Levy lying so pale in her bed…the way she was shivering and her cries of pain and Gajeel—the look of pure distress on his normally rough face…

Lucy swallowed loudly.

And his hand that she was holding flipped over so that their palms were touching. Sparks ignited as Natsu carefully laced their fingers, giving her a comforting squeeze, "She'll be fine. Like hell Gajeel will let somethin' happen to her."

"It's not Gajeel's choosing," Lucy savagely spat.

"Oi, you're worse off than her," Natsu argued, finally giving Lucy his full, undivided attention. "And you're still okay!"

"Well apparently I won't be," she snipped at the boy, "since I don't have my own Gajeel."

"Good point," Natsu uncaringly shrugged, returning his attention back to Erza and that seemed to make Lucy's blood boil and before she could come up with a witty retort, he suddenly said, "Back when I first moved here, I didn't know any of the material 'cuz my old school was behind."

She raised a brow, _how random._

"And everyone here would make fun of me 'cuz of that and make all these jokes 'bout me burning down my old school."

And Lucy sucked in a breath. The taboo topic of his arson. _That_ was something Natsu _never_ brought up to her, not even once. Sure the others teased him all the time over it, but Lucy never did get to hear the full story. And the one time Lucy attempted to find out—when Natsu wasn't at lunch—she asked the others at the table and they all said she should wait for Natsu to tell her.

But Natsu never did.

"But Erza didn't care about the rumors," he said slowly, drumming his free hand on his other thigh. "She requested to be my private tutor, teaching me all the material and even forced me to hang out with everyone at lunch. If it weren't for her I'd probably be all alone."

"She's amazing," Lucy commented, looking over at Erza's slumbering form, feeling absolute adoration for the girl. Though Erza could easily be the scariest person in the entire world, she had a kindness to her like no one else had.

Back when Lucy had first met the scarlet haired girl from Natsu, Erza seemed to have taken a liking to her, thinking that Lucy had some kind of amazing power that was able to stop Natsu and Gray's fights, but in reality, Lucy had only yelled at the two boys because they made her drop her phone when they had bumped into her.

But nonetheless, she and Erza became great friends and to see her like this was like getting socked in the gut.

"Lucy," a rough voice cut in. Lucy and Natsu both looked over their shoulders to see Gajeel standing crossly by the curtain. "Can you go wait with Levy. I need to go get a drink or somethin'…Don't wanna leave her alone."

She nodded. If the situation were less dire maybe she would have found Gajeel's concern to be adorable. She quickly pulled her hand from Natsu's warmth and exited without another word.

"Na-tsu," Erza breathed out. Her right eye was peeking open.

"Yeah?" he grew attentive, sitting up straighter as if it would help him hear well.

"Sorry for…interrupting…" a small smile played onto the pale girl's lips, as she snuggled against the blanket that was wrapped around her, making her seem abnormally _cute_ like an innocent kitten, but Natsu knew damn well Erza was no kitten, she was a lioness.

His face contorted as he processed Erza's words, "Interrupting what?"

She incoherently mumbled, "Your con…fession to…Lucy."

"Eh doesn't matter much," he simply answered, a lazy grin formed onto his face as he carelessly waved his hand. "I can tell her later or somethin'." He leaned back in his seat.

"I'm sure she'll say yes."

Natsu's forehead creased as he observed Erza's cheeks turning a light shade of pink. _The hell is she talking about?_ "Yes to what?"

"To your confession."

And Natsu's body jerked and suddenly Gray's questions made sense and Lucy's actions…

"SHE THREW UP 'CUZ SHE THOUGHT I WAS GONNA CONFESS?!" He jumped out of his seat in a fighting stance. "WHAT THE HELL?! LUCY!" And Natsu went to storm out of the room, ready to give the blonde a piece of his mind.

But he froze, Lucy was leaning by the threshold.

Her face was completely pink as pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, "Um Gajeel came back so I thought I would go back in here, but I think should just go find Gray—"

"No," he shook his head, "We need to talk."

"But—"

But Natsu wasn't taking no for an answer. He grabbed Lucy's forearm and dragged her off to her doom.

How could everyone think he was going to confess to her? How could _Lucy_ think that?

There was no way he would.

Not like Natsu's ever been interested in someone.

Nope.

Never.

Even if he did feel the desire to kiss Lucy a bunch of times and other stuff… and there's also the reason why he brought her into the closet—but that was for her own good—not because Natsu was nervous or anything…

Gah what was with him?

He glanced back at the girl he was dragging. She was ogling at him her heart melting, brown eyes, swollen lips, and her hair swaying all around, not to mention that cute blush that she wore only for him—because Lucy only ever blushed for him—not that Natsu really paid _much_ attention to that…

Now was not the time to be thinking of Lucy like _that._

But the way his heart was beating—like it was trying to break out of his chest…He gritted his teeth.

What terrible timing to discover his crush on his best friend…

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Fun stuff in the next chapter ^_^**

 **Sorry again for being so late and sorry for any mistakes!**

 **Hope this chapter was enjoyable!**

 **so, I wrote two one shots! One is a Pokemon crossover and the other is a fluffy one called "Drunk on Love" for anyone interested :"D**

 **Please have a lovely rest of the week, while I work on a group project** **by myself because my group decided they aren't going to help me. RIP me. Sobbing.**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

**WAHHH THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR A 1K REVIEWS! IM LITERALLY SCREAMING! I honestly thought this story would never reach 1k so this truly means a lot especially with all the hate I've been getting, which is why I haven't been updating.**

 **I also changed my original plans for this story so I kinda had to rewrite this in my head and my finals week happened so that has all delayed me.**

 **So sorry ;w;**

 **Anyway, please enjoy :')**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

Actually Natsu could kick himself—or should kick himself. Like hell did he just discover his crush. He had always been aware of it, though he couldn't pinpoint the exact moment he fell for the weird girl. Maybe because she was the only one who treated him like a friend? Always the first to laugh at his jokes—even when she was scolding him. And she always blushed so easily around him. And she always wanted to be around him…

It felt weird thinking about this, like he ate something bad making his stomach feel unsettled. He had kept his feelings buried for so long, so used to denying that it felt normal to him.

But he was sick of denying it.

But what was he supposed to do now?

Well he needed to handle this calmly. No sweat. All he needs to do is to first ask Lucy why she was being a complete weirdo over the idea of him asking her out.

His heart sank…That was exactly his problem...Lucy didn't see him in that way…

He tightly gulped, looking over at her.

Her face was flushed, despite being abnormally pale—due to her sickness—and her eyes shone brightly with nervous curiosity.

She was beautiful, like always, even when she sick.

"Wh-y are you pulling me?" she airily asked.

Why did he drag her out into the hallway again? Oh right, to confront her about the whole confessing misunderstanding…Though it technically was no longer a misunderstanding…But how does one go about confessing? His head was reeling like a fishing rod—a broken rod at that considering he couldn't figure out what the hell he wanted to do or say.

Well might as well start with the truth.

Shaking his head, Natsu let go of Lucy's hand and then grabbed the unsuspecting girl by the shoulders. Licking his chapped lips, he said, "Lucy." Her cheeks slowly blushed pink, making his heart do a somersault in his chest. He loved that she's always so quick to blush. "I wanted to tell—no _confess_ to why I pulled you into the closet with me."

Her eyes went round out of blatant shock and then narrowed as she skeptically asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," he nodded and then playfully smirked, "but now I don't feel like confessing to that..." Obvious enjoyment washed over his features as he watched Lucy glower at him with her lips pursed out of irritation.

Something sparked in her eye and with an oddly sultry voice, she asked, "And what do you feel like confessing to?"

And Natsu nearly choked on his own spit. He had wanted to make her uncomfortable—now _he_ was the one dying under the spotlight of her huge eyes. What was he supposed to do now? Just confess? _Lucy, I like you?_ Suddenly he was shaking her like a maraca while he screamed, "ARGG I NEED TO THINK THIS THROUGH MOREE!"

"EEP! O-Okay, bu-t ca-n yo-u s-stop sha-king m-me!" Lucy ordered as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. What was with him? He was acting way too strange and she was already nervous enough as it was.

Natsu abruptly stopped shaking her, but he didn't release his hold and his eyes burned into hers, studying the girl like he would find the answer to his question. Slowly, his gaze traveled down her face, past her cute button nose and her flushed cheeks, down to her slightly parted, red lips—and at that exact moment, Lucy licked them.

And Natsu found his answer.

A fire burned in him like he had never felt before. His chest ached thanks to his heart beating against it in a frenzy—and he was _positive_ she could hear it.

Was he really going to do this?

She licked her lips again.

Oh hell… he gingerly leaned his head down, keeping a steady grip on her bony shoulders. Her eyes immediately widened and a small gasp escaped her lips.

His heart stuttered.

"Uhh…Natsu?" she squeaked, her voice was filled with uncertainty as she watched his eyes flicker in an unfamiliar way. He moved his head closer to hers, allowing him to breathe in her cleanly scent. "What are you doing?"

"You know, Lucy," he said in a low, rough voice, "that kiss you gave me before…I don't think it counts as a real one…"

"W-What?! Of course it does!" she said way too quickly. Her heart was racing like crazy. "Why are you bringing that up now?" Her cheeks flaring shades of red like a Roman candle. Why was he acting so weirdly?

"I'm not," he mumbled, leaving Lucy utterly confused as he continued moving closer, taking in the way her eyes grew bigger and bigger and then finally his forehead rested against hers.

"N-Natsu?"

And suddenly he was kissing her.

A gasp escaped from her lips and Natsu could feel his heart painfully ticking away as he awaited the inevitable slap in the face.

Only it never happened.

Granted he had no idea what he was doing, keeping his eyes concentrated on hers, trying to gauge her reaction as he deepened the kiss, reveling in the soft feel of her lips against his. Her eyes fluttered shut and Natsu wanted to laugh in relief. She was kissing him back. So following her lead, he finally closed his eyes, allowing himself to truly fall into the kiss.

A hesitant hand caressed the back of her head, seemed to give Lucy the push she needed to sink into the kiss. Her own arms, shaky as ever, somehow ended up around his neck while Natsu kept his other hand trained on her back.

Heavy groans and breathless pants bubbled out of the two of them like feeding wood to a fire, igniting greater flames inside them both.

Natsu pulled back for a moment, winded as he took in the girl's heated face. Her lips were swollen and her cheeks were flushed and her eyes gave him a look that sent a shiver down his spine and somehow he found himself chuckling as he rested his heated forehead against hers.

"Na-tsu?" she panted, her eyes so round and wide, trying to convey to Natsu her puzzlement.

He smiled softly and breathed out, "I like you, Lucy."

She inhaled loudly, before gawking at him with an unreadable expression. For a second, Natsu thought she really was going to hit him—and she did, except not in the way that he had expected.

She had tackled him into a hug.

With a quick gulp of air, Natsu stumbled a bit, barely able to keep his ground as his back hit the chilling locker with a bang. Meanwhile, Lucy nuzzled her face against the crook of his neck with her arms wrapped tightly around him. He swallowed thickly, "L-Lucy?"

But she didn't say anything.

With awkward movements, Natsu returned the hug, rubbing tiny circles on the small of her back as his heart pulsed painful against his ribcage. Everything felt so surreal. But Natsu didn't delve much on it as he enjoyed the feel of her warm breath against his bare neck.

"Aww," a voice cooed, effectively interrupting their moment. "About time you two hooked up!"

"Huh?" Natsu's head shot up and his heart nearly stopped as Lucy stiffened in his arms. Staring right at him was _Cana_. "C-Cana?"

"WAHHH," a new voice joined in, "JUVIA IS SO HAPPY FOR LOVE RIVAL!"

Lucy pulled back and whirled around, "J-Juvia?"

And the duo gawked at the two girls who were deviously grinning at them—though it was hard to tell they were grinning thanks to the medical masks they were wearing.

"How did you guys get in?!" Lucy gasped as she felt Natsu pull his arms away from her and glanced nervously at him, but he was too focused on Cana and Juvia to notice her looking.

"It was a bit of challenge," Cana said, her purple eyes gleaming as she cockily said, but nothing we couldn't handle."

"Yep!" Juvia concurred, fisting the air.

"So what did you do?" Natsu asked, his eyes narrowing in thought.

"Well Loke," Juvia said, "knew one of the guards because they were intimately involved—like Juvia will be with Gray-sama someday!"

Lucy choked on her spit, going into an awkward coughing fit, while Natsu stared at her with one brow raised, but offered no help.

"Or like how Natsu and Lucy are involved," Cana mused, laughing the second Lucy's face changed colors and at Natsu's sweat drop.

"I-It's not like that!" Lucy protested, crossing her arms over her chest out of aggravation.

"So Loke knew one of the guards and just asked to come in?" Natsu repeated with his forehead creasing like a sheet of paper.

"Something like that," Cana winked leaving Natsu looking disgruntle.

Lucy murmured in awe, "How anticlimactic."

"Right?" Natsu huffed before balling his hands up and yelling, "OI, WHY THE HELL DIDN'T HE ASK TO GET US OUT?!"

"Natsu!" Lucy gripped his veiny forearm. "Stop!" He sunk into Lucy's touch with a look of disdain on his face.

"Because you're contagious, dumbass!" Cana exclaimed in an uproar, no longer smiling like before. "We snuck in so we could cure you guys."

"That's why we brought Wendy with us," Juvia said, looking hesitant. "She's with Mira and Loke because we split up to go find you all."

Lucy's heart clenched. This is exactly what she didn't want. The others risking their lives for them…But now it was too late. They were doomed just like her.

Juvia bit her suddenly-quivering-lip and looked downwards, "J-Juvia was…Juvia was—"

"Don't worry. That stripping bastard is doing okay," Natsu said gently, moving closer to pat her shoulder, surprising everyone with his tenderness. "We can go take you to him."

Juvia smiled back with her blue eyes glistening like the sun's rays dancing over the ocean and Natsu grinned back.

"How are you two feeling?" Cana asked with concern as she awkwardly scratched her arms.

"Like shit," Natsu with an oddly cheery voice, while Lucy disdainfully shook her head.

"Really? You two looked fine a few minutes ago," Cana snickered and Juvia frowned, "Why couldn't that be Juvia and Gray-sama?"

Lucy turned bright red, looking away from them, trying not to think about what had just occurred between her and Natsu. _I like you, Lucy_. Her heart stuttered, unsure how she was supposed to behave around him now. Were they together? Was she supposed to say it back? Well it was too late for any of that now...

And just as Lucy went to follow, the world rumbled under her feet. She tumbled backwards, hitting the locker roughly with her elbow.

"Lucy!" Cana's arm quickly shot out to steady her. "Are you okay?"

Was she okay? Lucy had no idea. Her mind felt numb and all she could feel was a trickling sensation coming out of her nose.

"Her nose!" Juvia gasped, cupping a hand over her masked mouth and Lucy wiped at it, looking down to see dark red smeared on her pale, ghostly hands. It looked almost unreal, like it was someone else's hand that was staring at.

"Here," Cana pulled out a tissue and Lucy gladly accepted it, placing it against her bleeding nose.

"Lu…cy," Natsu tried to bolt over, but he sagged against Juvia, who quickly wrapped an arm around him to sturdy the boy and hesitantly said, "Natsu?"

"I'm…fine," he gritted, his eyes wincing closed. "Gray is…school…infirmary,"

Cana and Juvia nodded at one another, "Let's go!"

 **XOXOX**

It wasn't long until they reached the room when Juvia caught sight of Gray and released her hold on Natsu, allowing him to tumble to the ground with a painful groan. "Natsu!" Lucy stumbled out of Cana's grip to race over to him, but she had forgotten how weak her legs were and just ended up falling on top of him, emitting another groan of pain from the boy.

"Are you two okay?!" Levy asked, leaning over them with Gajeel not too far behind.

"Levy!" Lucy cried, tears of joy leaking. She sat up, pulling herself off of Natsu, who looked rather grateful for that, "You're okay?" Last time she had left Levy, the girl looked like she was dying, but now she looked nearly normal, despite the unusual paleness.

"Yeah," she grinned, tying her hands behind her back, "thanks to Wendy! She has these pills that contain an old element called Ether. It's not a cure though. It's sort of like a temporary feel-better pill that she had been working on."

"Here," Gajeel said, tossing two pills at Lucy. "Give one to Salamander. It melts on the tongue."

"Oh?" Lucy stared at the small circular pills in her hand, looking almost like a black pearl. She shrugged and handed one over to Natsu, who looked at it with indifference before plopping it into his mouth and Lucy did just as so, figuring she had nothing to lose at this point.

Meanwhile, Gray was sitting on the table getting looked over by a tiny, little girl with cute pigtails, _Wendy._

"Now breathe in deeply," Wendy murmured with her stethoscope pressed against Gray's chest.

"GRAY-SAMA!"

"Huh?" Gray turned his head quickly just as Juvia pounced on him and poor Wendy had to jump back to avoid getting hit.

"Ju-Juvia was so worried!" she sobbed into his chest, clutching the boy like he were a teddybear.

Gray choked, his eyes popping open as he let Juvia hug him nearly to death and soak his bare check with her warm tears. He roughly ran his hand through her blue locks in a way that would have made Lucy cringe if it weren't for the tenderness in Gray's voice when he spoke, "Juvia…"

"Looks like we are all here!" A new voice popped in. It was Mira, who was holding an unsteady Erza up along with Loke, whose green eyes doubled in size when they spotted the blonde.

"Lucy!" Loke jumped, his glasses jostling in the process. "You're alive!" He quickly settled Erza down for Wendy to examine before he sauntered over to Lucy and gracefully bent down on one knee and seized hold of her small hand, emitting his strong smell of fancy cologne, which made Lucy crinkle her nose. "And beautiful as ever might I add."

She grimaced, looking away, "Thanks, Loke…"

Natsu, however, looked beyond irritated, but before he could make a move of sorts, Cana said, "Okay, so I know everything seems bad right now. But we have a plan!"

"Ahh yes!" Wendy nodded, shyly moving over right next to her, tripping over her own two feet. Lucy felt sweat dribble on her brow

"So you can figure out a cure for us, Wendy?" Lucy asked, tugging her hand away from Loke's, who didn't seem to notice.

"I think so." Wendy said slowly. "Well to find the cure, we must go back to the beginning."

"The beginning?" Erza weakly echoed.

Wendy nodded timidly, clearly not used to having so much attention on her at once. "Yes, the beginning to where this all started…The story of the cursed boy and the cursed girl."

There was nothing but silence since no one knew what to say exactly until Gray disrupted it by spatting, "I still wanna know how the hell you guys got in here."

"No you don't," nearly everyone replied just as Loke simply gleamed, "It's not for those of the faint-hearted," leaving everyone in a shuddering mess—except for Lucy who was too focused on Wendy's words: _The story of the cursed boy and the cursed girl_?

Why did that sound so familiar?

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **Hope that wasn't too dreadful to read.**

 **AND YAYY THEY KISSED!**

 **Pshh some of you need to have a little more faith in me smh ;)**

 **Thanks for those who give support!**

 **If you're interested I have a few new oneshots that I have written on my page and I have a New Year's fic in the works.**

 **I hope you all have a lovely holiday!**


	16. Discontinued

Discontinued!

Hi, everyone!

I hate author note chapters, but I decided to put one because I keep getting asks about this.

 **I have officially discontinued this fic.**

A lot of you have been begging for me to pick it back up, but I can't. If you guys got even half the amount of hate that I have gotten, you would understand why. I mean I can barely write for my other stories either these days because I can't get over how awful some people are. Something that was once my hobby has now turned into something that evokes anxiety and tears.

All I do is write fanfiction for free out of my spare time. I'm sorry that bothers people.

Sorry for whatever I did wrong to deserve to get attacked by this fandom.

Sorry for everything.

And I sincerely apologize to the people who really enjoyed this story. Sorry for letting you guys down.

Maybe someday I'll try to write for it again, but until then, I wish you the best!

~Goodbye~


	17. FINAL CHAPTER

**SOOO, back by many reviewers who keep making me sad that I haven't continued, I decided to write an ending to this story after all. Please don't be mad at me over this though! I love you all so much, thanks for being there for me!**

* * *

 **XOXOX**

"Lucy," someone whispered, rattling her. "Oi, Lucy! Wake up already!"

"Stop shaking her, boy!" a snarly voice barked.

"How else am I supposed to get her to wake up!"

"You're not supposed, idiot," another voice said, dry as ice.

"Try kissing her!" a sweet voice suggested. "I hear it works all the time."

"Mira-san, you're not helping," a smaller voice squeaked.

"Sorry, sorry! I'll just get back to work!"

"W-where am I?" Lucy shot up too fast, her vision blurred, creating funny outlines of all her friends. Her head felt like it had been stung by a bee. Everywhere. "Oww!" She closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her head.

"Lu-chan! Are you okay?" A small hand tenderly rubbed Lucy's shoulder.

"Oh no," said a squeaky, panicky voice, that was hopping up and down on her lap. "Lucy doesn't remember a thing!"

"Ooh, I think I've heard something on this!" another voice said. It was deeper and warmer, sending a rush of heat through Lucy's body. "What's it called…"

"Amnesia?" some said, throwing the boy a bone.

"Nah, that's not it."

"Oi, Natsu, your face looks weird—are you having a stroke? Guys, help him!"

"Crabs! Lucy has crabs!"

"WHAT?" Lucy's eyes popped open. This time she could see clearly. A blue cat—Happy— was seated on her lap, drooling dreamily.

"When did you get crabs?" asked Gray, ducking his head to hide his heavy blush.

"I'm curious to know who gave her them," said Levy, her mouth pursed in thought.

"Let's just hope Erza Never finds out," Gray said and Levy was quick to agree.

"I can't believe Lucy has crabs and's been holding out on me! Can we eat them?" said Happy, flying frantically around the room. Porlyusica tried to swat Happy away, but eventually gave up and left the room, muttering something that sounded a lot like, "I hate all of you brats."

"Ooh! I wonder if it's her crab spirit!" said Natsu, getting all fired up.

"The one that gives cool haircuts?!" asked an eagar Happy.

"Yeah! That's the one!"

"I want him to shave a fish on my head, hnngg!"

"Then you risk having Assflame trying to eat you," Gray said, throwing Natsu a cool smile.

"Oi, you wanna fight?" Natsu's fiery fist raised, ready to strike in a moments notice.

"Always!" Gray grinned, knuckles sporting a ring of sharp ickles.

"What is even going on?" Lucy was flabbergasted, sinking into the soft cushion of the bed, hoping she could slip through it to avoid this overly escalated conversation. Nothing about it made the least bit of sense! Why were these people her friends again?

Wendy was beside her, blushing furiously and Levy placed a hand to her cheek, as if she couldn't believe what was going on either.

Someone had to stop this and it looked like it was up to Lucy. Curling her hands into fists, she shrilly shouted, "I don't have crabs and I don't have amnesia!"

"That's a relief," said Wendy, wiping sweat off of her dark brow. Lucy smiled gratefully at her, knowing Wendy must be exhausted from helping to heal her.

"So what is the last thing you remember, Lu-chan?"

"I was in school—and we were locked in because of a virus and—Natsu…" Her whole body turned hot as she shyly glanced over to her friend. He kissed her… They had kissed! And he didn't look sick! He looked well—even better than well. His hair had it's usual spiky bounce and his face was tanned—not a ghastly pale color. And the confession! Her heart was thudding so fast.

She scampered out of bed and flung herself at her intended target. Her arms wrapped around his upper back, pulling him closely to her. "Natsu," she breathed against her neck, while hot tears spilled from her eyes. She allowed herself to breathe in his scent of a blown out candle. She was so ecstatic, she didn't even notice the looks of bemusement all over her friends' faces.

"L-Lucy?" Natsu stammered, arms slowly circling her hips. Her body flinched from his sudden touch, but she quickly warmed into it. Reveling in the feel of being entrapped by his strong arms.

She pulled her head back and rubbed away her stray tears with the palm of her hand. "Natsu," she said again, trying to find the courage to do what he had done. But despite any courage she could muster, nothing would stop the shaking and trembling feeling that has taken over her body like an alien invader.

"I like you, too."

The blood pounding through her ears helped her ignore all the astonished gasps from their friends. And Natsu—his eye's shot wide open, staring at Lucy as though he didn't quite hear her. She found that to be amusing considering how amazing his hearing truly was.

And just as he was about to speak, Lucy stretched onto the tips of her toes and placed a chaste kiss onto his lips. While Natsu's lips were surprisingly soft and unsurprisingly warm, he was very stiff. Lucy felt discouraged, her heart sinking heavily in her chest. Had she done something wrong? Did she not say it back quick enough? Had Natsu changed his mind about her?

Doubts and more doubts clouded her vision and she couldn't take it anymore. She pulled away—well, she would have if Natsu hadn't cupped the back of her head with one hand while the other gently caressed her right cheek. He deepened the kiss, a bit sloppy on both of their parts, but she didn't mind in the least.

It was everything she wanted.

He was everything.

When they broke away, Natsu looked confused and especially after Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist. She didn't want to let him go. Not just yet. Maybe not ever.

"She really must have hit her head hard," Gray said, no longer wearing a shirt. Actually, was he ever wearing a shirt? Lucy pondered quietly.

"Hit my head?" Lucy's fretted. "Why do you guys keep saying that?"

"Oh, Lu-chan," said Levy, cheeks red, "you were leaving the guild after Mira had finished washing the window and you, uh, must of…thought the window was the door…and you smacked your head on the glass and hit the ground rather hard."

"What? N-no! That's not what happened! I was walking to class and Natsu dragged me into a closet and—"

"Damnn," said Gajeel with a whistle, propping his arm up on Lucy's former bed. "Who knew Salamander and Bunny Girl were so kinky."

"We're not!" Lucy said, ignoring how hot her neck and ears had became. "This is serious! We were all infected by some kind of virus thing and—"

"Oi, Natsu," said Happy, tugging on the dragon slayer's scarf. "Doesn't this sound similar to that story Lucy was writing and told us not to read?"

Natsu's mouth turned "O" shape and his eyes sparkled. Lucy could feel each muscle in his toned body tense with excitement. "Happy, you're right! Where those Edolas kids get trapped in that school and they all die!"

"Oh yeah!" Levy exclaimed, "I remember Lu-chan telling me about it!"

Lucy went still. Book? Edolas? Oh. _Oh…OH?_

"Oh my…" It was all coming back to her. She quickly detangled herself from Natsu. He never kissed her and—and he admitted that he liked her. It had all been a dream—a stupid dream because of her stupid story! She was absolutely humiliated. She wasn't sure which was worse; getting rapped in a bell naked and forced to roll around in there with Natsu, or confessing her feelings and kissing him…

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She repeatedly smacked her forehead, teeth clenched. She was never going to live this down once the news spreads. She could already picture Mira teasing her and Cana asking how far they've gone.

Natsu was quiet now. Studying Lucy, but not saying anything and that drove her mad. She could barely breathe. It was like the weight of the world was crashing in around her.

"Say, Natsu," Happy whispered. "She likes you~"

"Happy," Natsu's voice wasn't playful. It was a warning.

And Lucy took off in a run.

"Lucy-san!" Wendy called out. "You really need to rest!"

But Lucy didn't care, she needed fresh air. She needed something that was real. And whether it was a dream or no, she _did not_ want to be back in an infirmary bed.

Her legs gave out when she made it to her favorite bridge that was en route to her apartment. Her breath came out in pants as she clutched the stone wall. It was hot from laying in the sun all day. In fact, the sun was quite brutal, making her work up a bit of a sweat. She managed to hoist herself up the stone ledge and sit, dangling her feet over the water. She tossed her head back and stared at the cloudless blue sky. It was like a never-ending sea. It made her feel a bit lightheaded.

"What a beautiful day that I ruined." She sighed, closing her eyes. Basking in the hot glow of the sunlight. It warmed every fiber of her being, as if it were piecing her soul back together after it got shredded like her furniture when Happy's around.

"Ruined? How could today be ruined? You woke up and you're okay! That sounds like a great day to me."

Lucy's eyes snapped open and Natsu was lounging beside her, his arms resting behind his head, grinning at Lucy as if to say, "you're always such a weirdo."

"Yeah, well…" Her head hung. It was so hard to make eye contact with him after what she did. Not to mention what she had said… Her fingers curled into balls, her nails dug into her palms. Maybe the pain would distract her from the mortification.

"Happy was so worried! He couldn't stop crying! We even brought him fish and he turned it down!"

Lucy quietly giggled, still refusing to look at him.

"I was kinda worried, too," he said with a bit of reluctance. "I mean after all we've been through, if something's gonna take you down, it better be something more intense than a glass window!" When she didn't say anything, Natsu continued, teasing aside, "Must have been some dream."

Lucy risked a peek at him. His eyes were closed and he looked so peaceful.

"It was a nightmare."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"You read my story—against my wishes," she added in. "Nothing else to talk about." She curled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. She was never going to finish that story, she decided. After living through her story in her dream, she realized how horrible it was. How she ever thought it was a good idea was a mystery that even Levy couldn't solve.

Natsu shrugged with a cheeky grin. Unapologetic. What would be the point in apologizing if he planned to do it again anyway? She snorted. She wouldn't have him any other way. And that alone made her stomach flutter.

"True," he said.

The water from the canal rushed under them. A beautiful, polluted shade of green that made Lucy fear ever falling into it, even though she risked it all the time. But that's what makes it fun.

"There's something I want to say," said Natsu.

Lucy shyly glanced up at him, finally meeting his dark eyes.

"I like you, Lucy."

She ducked her head fast, closed her eyes, and pinched her hand. Was she dreaming again? She reopened and saw Natsu smirking with amusement. So she wasn't dreaming, then?

Natsu gently took her hand in his. "It's okay," he said, his smile growing as warm as the sun that was beating down her neck. "We have time to figure things out."

She scooted closer to him, and rested her head on his shoulder. Natsu took in a sharp breath, staring at their connected hands. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that," she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes.

Time, the greatest gift of all.

 _~FIN~_

 **XOXOX**

* * *

 **I know a lot of you are waiting for me to update my other fics, rather than this one, but this past summer/few months have been really hard for me. So I decided to seek professional help and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (which I kinda figured and you can probably tell from my author notes too when I'm in my up mood and down mood :'D. )**

 **But anyway, because of my disorder, it makes writing really hard. It's like one week, you really like the chapter you wrote and the direction you're taking the story in, but then the next week you absolutely hate it and never want to write again. It's a constant whirlwind that you cannot escape. And then having to deal with nasty reviews on top of it is like being kicked when you're already dead on the ground.**

 **I'm not sharing this for sympathy, I just want you to understand why it takes me so long to post these days or why I lose my motivation. Back when I was updating nearly everyday, I was in my manic phase and now my depressive phase has been really overpowering, giving me constant panic attacks and uncontrollable crying. The medication I am on, however, has made me feel unbelievably happy these past couple of weeks, and I'm hoping it will give me the inspiration to write again.**

 **And also, I finally have a full time job! And I need to focus on work because I really need money since I plan on traveling the world (going to Prague really soon!), but yeah, after working 10 hour shifts, my brain does not function afterwards and I am left with no desire to write, so I hope you can understand why now I haven't been writing much.**

 **And after writing this lengthy, tedious post, the gist is, I'm trying my best and thank you for all being so patient and kind. I read every single sweet review you've all left for this fic and I have teared up numerous times, and while I can't give it the ending I originally intended, I can give the closure you all deserve.**

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you don't find this chapter to be complete trash :0**

 **And I also recreated my tumblr if anyone wants to follow! I'm following everyone back~ mizzyplatinum(I had to change my name from missy to mizzy because I lost my URL sighhhh) **

**Anyway, I hope you're all doing well! Hope none of you were in any way affected by the recent disasters and Happy belated Rosh Hashanah and early Yom Kippur to my jewish readers!**

 **-Hugs-**


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